


A Stormy Waltz

by SEBAEKTRASH



Category: EXO (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe, Angst and Hurt/Comfort, Drama & Romance, Love/Hate, M/M
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-17
Updated: 2019-01-04
Packaged: 2019-09-16 00:44:14
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 7
Words: 40,976
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16943784
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/SEBAEKTRASH/pseuds/SEBAEKTRASH
Summary: Baekhyun was abandoned as a child, then taken by a king to be raised in a palace. But he is not a prince, he is not royalty at all.The king raises boys to fight viciously against each other, and Baekhyun learns quickly. Fight or die. Those are his only two options.





	1. The beginning

It was the darkest fall of night, and the heaviest rain that promised to drown out the entire harvest. The people called it a black storm.  
Storms were common, but none like this. On every black storm, the people's king called it destiny, he would always use his men to find another young male.  
And as of lately, many of the boys he had for a while had fallen ill from the dire temperature inside their chambers. A black storm for the king meant a new fate.

The black storm was bringing ice, hale and thunder. The king took this as a direct sign from the gods, it was time to get rid of the bodies that lay in those chambers, they could no longer be of use for him anymore.  
The king sat on his throne of the vacant hall. There was only he, and two other men. These were his armed soldiers that marched behind him to every corner of the palace and to every inch of the earth he walked upon.  
They stood there guarding the throne and staring at nothing, to only shaded dark corners of the hall while the king listened to the storm growing heavier and dreadfully near.  
While all in the town was taking cover from the bad weather, the king had other plans in mind.

The king turned to the man at the right of him, leaning toward the side of his throne as he did so, "Send the men to town and find another child."  
When the soldier heard his command, he looked over at the other guard. They shared a reluctant and concerned look, but they knew they could not refuse the king.  
The king believed highly of the gods, and when a storm as heavy as this one approached, it was a known tale that there would be a real fighter found amongst the town- a boy that would do anything to survive. The king sat back with a satisfied relief, eyes cold as the night. The two soldiers nodded without verbal response to the king's authority and then trudged off toward the doors to find more men.  
There were many other men outside the throne hall, and the two soldiers immediately ordered each one to round up their horses and prepare for a raid.

The soldiers usually searched for boys of a tender age. Never had the king wanted to take an infant from its mother.  
However, the cries of a forgotten child caught the attention of a soldier trudging through, mounted on his horse as they raided the town. It was among the screams of women trying to hold onto their sons, one of the soldiers trudged near the cries and found a baby. It was swaddled in a quilt, settled on top of hay and a barrel.  
The soldier got down and was terrified by how blue the baby had gotten, shivering, wailing, being covered by the storm fall. He grabbed it and hid it with his cloak before returning back to his horse.

When they returned to the king, there were four new boys with them, and all extremely youthful.  
The king was enjoying what his soldiers had brought back to him until he stepped down from his throne and saw one of his men was holding something small in his arms.  
The king approached this soldier, and the soldier quickly told the king how he had found the infant alone.  
The other guards feared for the life of the baby, knowing the king would probably use it as bate for a target during battle, but it was not at all that way.

The king stopped and stared with a puzzled, yet fascinated gaze, "It's him," The king told his men. Then carefully, he took the baby out of the soldier's arms. Strong arms cautiously let it go.  
As soon as the baby was in the King's grasp, the quilt was off him, and he stripped the child to be sure it was male.  
He held up the baby by a single leg, showing the rest of them as though he had caught the infant after an intensive hunt.

"This will be the boy who will fight for me!" The king's voice echoed in the room. Only a few whimpers could be heard from the other boys, all wishing they could go home.  
A quick hush, to silence them. And for a moment the only thing that could be heard was beyond the palace walls. Furious rain. The king gave the infant back to the man that had found it, "Have one of the servants take care of him. Also, have the servants clean the bodies from the chambers and put our new boys there."  
Each guard nodded and knew they could not deny the demand. Then more whimpers and cries from the boys as they were turned and forced to walk in a straight line.  
As the men marched the boys out the hall, their king stayed at his throne, proud. He watched with glowing eyes of fixation for the infant child. The one he knew would one day be a vicious fighter.

On the second day of the infant's presence, a servant girl was assigned to care for it, and after a few days, she was hit for disobedience. Trauma caused death. She was replaced.  
And each one after her, replaced, until the boy was old enough to stand and walk on his own. The king then ordered a handmaiden to take care of him for the next few years since the boy was still left out of battles and not yet placed in his chamber.

On the boy's tenth year, he was named, Baekhyun. Yet no one began to call him this, because up until that day he had been normally addressed by everyone as 'boy'.

The tenth year was a mark of change, not only was Baekhyun named, but the handmaiden assigned to him was no longer to be responsible for his life, for he was fit of age to care for himself. According to the king.

A couple days passed his tenth year mark, the king met with Baekhyun again for placement in a chamber. It was a cold place, somewhere down in the second lowest region of the palace.  
He knew Baekhyun would be afraid and wouldn't understand why he was being put away, yet all the guards had warned him beforehand, and even the handmaiden had told him his only purpose was going to be to please the king in battle.

The king and his men escorted Baekhyun to where two of the empty chambers were. The room was a hall that led from a main door and to a short turn.  
At the turn, what came to view was an open cell across from another one. Both areas concealed behind bars. Emptiness in one, one body lying on the floor in the other.  
Baekhyun turned his head up and looked at the king with eyes full of fear. The king and his guards were all standing tall around him, surrounding him, and making him feel as small as the rats.  
The king then told him, "Do not be kind to any soul, only fight for food and life, boy."

The chamber door was pulled further open by a guard and the King motioned for Baekhyun to go inside. Baekhyun walked inside and paused once he got passed the opening.  
There was only a bed, a bucket, and a stone narrow window.  
As Baekhyun started to turn back around, he felt a push, and his body stumbled forward.  
The door slammed shut and the king was already walking away as the key in one of the guard's hands was locking Baekhyun inside.

Baekhyun ran to grab hold of the door with confusion and fury. "Let me out!" he cried, not understanding. "I'm not a prisoner! I've been good!"  
He looked at the soldier that was locking him inside and tried to plead with him, "Please, don't keep me in here. I'll die in here!." Baekhyun's eyes darted over, passed the man and at the small body on the ground inside the other chamber. It was lying on its side, and Baekhyun couldn't tell if he was dead or alive.  
It only frightened him more. He shook the bars angrily, but the guard did nothing, only took a step back and observed him for a short moment.

"I can't help you, but do not fear, boy, you will be fed, you will not die."

Baekhyun could not believe his words. They sounded like lies. He grabbed the bars tighter and pressed against them.

"Please, just let me go. I won't misbehave. I won't runaway anymore. I won't do anything the king disapproves of."

The guard sighed and shook his head, "I'm sorry, boy, the king wants you here. He's been waiting a long time for this moment. Take his advice and be strong."  
The guard looked over at the chamber across from Baekhyun' saying, "Don't be weak like the other boys." And then he turned and walked off.

Baekhyun listened as the footsteps got quieter and cried out for him to come back until he could no longer hear the clanking of the guard's boots, only a distant sound of a door closing shut.  
Panic rushed in and Baekhyun gasped and stepped away from the door. He looked around him, it was nearly complete isolation from the outer world. He felt trapped, he felt that being here, he would be easily forgotten.  
He didn't understand what everyone had meant, he didn't understand why the king wanted him so badly to be a prisoner.

Baekhyun cried at the corner of his chamber until his tears were dry, and his breath was left quivering. But it wasn't his pain fading that caused a cease in his sobs, it was when he noticed the boy inside the other cell hadn't moved an inch. He crawled to the cell bars and tried getting his attention, but the boy would not move. Baekhyun gave up after a long wait of staring at a body that was stilled in a side position.  
He hoped the boy was heavily sleeping, but when daylight came and Baekhyun awoke with a shiver and a hungry belly, he heard boots. Guards.  
He lifted his head and saw them removing the body from the chamber. 

 

 

At the beginning of the first fight Baekhyun was going to be apart of, he was walked in a straight line behind all the other boys.  
He heard names as they were being walked, and tried to remember them, planned to call them out during battle and hoped they could escape together.  
He memorized the names he heard the most, the boys that got into the most trouble. Chanyeol, Chanyeol, Chanyeol. Jongdae. Jongdae. Jongdae.  
The guards led the group of boys through the palace and to the backside of it. There was a vast and open field, of horses and weapons, and then a clutter of trees that ended it.

Baekhyun was thankful to see the sun again as the soldiers walked them out and across the grass to a table with tools jumbled on top of it. Baekhyun looked around while the other boys quickly grabbed what they wanted.  
And he saw in the distance, seated far away in a tower, the king watching through a singular lens. Baekhyun stared at him curiously before he felt a rough nudge from one of the men behind him.

"Hurry and pick a weapon, boy."

Baekhyun looked down at the table and there was hardly anything was left. Only a broken broom stick. He bent down and picked it up and heard laughter from the other boys.  
Baekhyun stood up trying to observe everything and to understand what was about to happen, but everything was happening fast and before he could do more or ask the guard why he would need such a useless item, trumpets began to blow, singing throughout the sky. It startled Baekhyun and then more as the other boys took off running toward the woods.  
Baekhyun looked over at the King's tower again, and then curiously up at the guard, who glared down at him. "I don't know what I'm supposed to do," Baekhyun told him.

The guard sighed with agitation and nudged him, "Go find a boy and beat him good."

Baekhyun looked toward the woods. The boys were all separating and disappearing. He took one step, and then another, and then he slowly started to run. Broom stick in hand.  
He wasn't sure why he would need to fight, but he knew it must be important, but before he even wanted to consider harming one of the other boys, he wanted to find Chanyeol or Jongdae and try to conjure up a plan of some kind.

Baekhyun ran through the woods far enough to not see the field anymore and then slowed down to take his breath.  
As he stilled and tried to think of what to do next, he felt something hard hit the back of his head, then the ground was coming towards him. Baekhyun hit the ground with a shout and turned around to see one of the boys, but not Chanyeol or Jongdae. "Hey! why did you hit me like that!" Baekhyun kicked a foot out and knocked it into the boy's knee before getting up and impulsively swinging a fist, punching the boy in the face.  
The boy fell and Baekhyun jumped on him and grabbed his weapon. The boy cowered under him as Baekhyun possessed the brick and lifted it up about to bring it down with a force, but stopped himself. Baekhyun kept the brick clutched in his hand as he lowered his arm and quickly got up. He ran, and left the boy there panting and confused. Once Baekhyun finally came across the faces he was hoping to see in the woods, he was startled to see them swinging swords at each other.  
He stayed hidden behind a tree and watched as they aggressively swung, Chanyeol laughing, while Jongdae looked paled with fear.  
Baekhyun turned away and knew approaching them would be a devastating mistake. He knew at this point all of them were supposed to be hurting each other, but Baekhyun just didn't understand why they would have to fight this way. He decided to try and escape now on his own. He kept running through the terrain, believing he'd find a way out.  
Every inch of the woods looked the same. Every now and then Baekhyun would stop and look around, would hear shouts and blood curling cries.  
It only made him want to keep going, but he couldn't tell if he was making any process. Once he finally made it through the woods and to the outer side however, the clearing was worse than he could have imagined.

Baekhyun slid to a terrifying stop as he nearly ran right off the edge of a cliff. "No! no! no!" He cried out, "No!" he looked down and saw sharp edges, jagged rocks, and slanted slates of stone. Thick white mist, covering whatever was below. It could be darkness. It could be water. Or it could be endless. Baekhyun feared it all, whatever it was beyond the mist, regardless of what it could be, he feared it. He looked straight ahead, there was another side, another cliff, but impossibly unreachable by the gap between them.  
Baekhyun knew this meant he would have to turn around and face the others, but there was no telling when their fight would come to an end.

The clouds closed in over the earth. Dark clouds that foretold another storm. Baekhyun was sitting at the edge of the cliff with his knees to his chest when he heard the trumpets.  
The trumpets meant the end, if they were also the beginning, but fear was strong, Baekhyun didn't want to run into the boy who had hit him earlier. He didn't want to see any of them.

By the time the guards had come to find him, It was dark, and Baekhyun could see the glow of their lanterns moving about, like spirts among the forest.

The king was gone, and the tower was empty when Baekhyun was returned to the field, but even if he was still there and watching, it was too dark to see anything around the land.  
All the weapons were returned and Baekhyun noticed blood on a few of them. Just one guard led him back to his chamber. Then closed the door and locked him inside.  
Baekhyun learned overtime, slower than the others had, but he did learn, in time, learned that the king wanted a good fight. And when he turned fourteen, Baekhyun also understood the better he fought, the better treated he was by the guards, better fed and bathed he was.  
Baekhyun started going to sleep telling himself to feel nothing. To fight. To fight. To fight.

 

 

It became clear, after more time went on, that a few others were becoming jealous of Baekhyun's adaption and commitment.  
How Baekhyun would return with little scratches and bruises. How he began to do more damage to other boys than the damage he would take.  
And the king took notice to this improvement, all the way from his tower, would occasionally shout and cheer with victory. For him.

The jealousy got worst as the boys got older. Chanyeol would mock Baekhyun about the king's favoritism, mocking him by saying the king couldn't wait for Baekhyun to get old enough to mount.

Baekhyun and Chanyeol fought the most, searched for each other the moment they were ordered by the trumpets, and then it became fun, for Baekhyun, the less he cared, and the more he enjoyed seeing Chanyeol's face twisted with hatred. Baekhyun soon learned Jongdae, and two others, Jongin and Luhan, didn't like him either. Soon they were all trying to find Baekhyun at once and take him down, but Baekhyun had not a thing to lose, no family on the outside, no recognition of who he was and where he came from. He was only living off the rush of swinging a hatchet and trying to catch a limb.  
He didn't feel guilty the first time he almost crushed one of the boy's legs by beating it with a stone. He only regretted that it didn't entirely break.

Baekhyun shot a boy in the arm with a cross-bow on his seventh year. From where he had been crouched in a tree, he had watched the arrow fly. And to him, the sight was pleasant. Aim a little off.  
His only feelings after it happened was how he needed to train more on his own to perfect his next shot.

Once the boys became old enough to understand the strict rules of violating the king, the guards allowed them to roam the palace during the day for two hours.  
To either tend to the stables or ride the horses, practice in the field or do nothing.  
At night fall they were returned to their chambers by orderly fashion. The one across from Baekhyun hadn't been empty since the first boy he'd seen in there.

There was another fighter, Kyungsoo, that had taken the space for a few weeks, until the guards were ordered to separate him and Baekhyun because they would be shouting at each other all night. Couldn't stand each other.  
Kyungsoo had been the only other person to ever occupy it.  
Now It was empty again, that side of the room, but it wouldn't be for long. A storm was near.

 

 

After he heard keys dangle and boots clanking, voices and ruffles, Baekhyun sat up in his bed.  
It was only lightly showering outside, he could hear pellets at the window, where birds often came and sat, where often rats peered inside to stare down at him.  
A guard was leading someone to the other chamber. They stopped, and the guard pushed him inside with little resistance.

They were both wet. "Stay," The guard warned, however, with a strained voice, like he had quite a bit of trouble getting the boy here in the first place.

The guard was partially panting as he pulled the door closed and locked it. Baekhyun watched them. The guard stepped back but couldn't look away for a while, startled by how dark the boy's gaze stayed fixed on him.  
He slapped the cell bars with his hand to try and scare the boy to make him look down. The boy didn't budge.

The guard tried hitting it again, harder, yet it did nothing to spook anyone. "We'll see how tough he is after a few days," The man sneered, then with a laugh he turned and left.

Once he moved from standing in front of the bars, Baekhyun could see the boy clearer. And those eyes turned and stared at him. But it didn't scare Baekhyun the way the guard had been spooked.  
Baekhyun simply stared back at him before turning over and going back to sleep.

 

 

The boys often ate together. They ate in a room with limited water supply and a long table, stools for each of them to sit on.  
It was obvious there was someone new amongst them, and everyone was quiet, staring at the boy who was escorted to the feast table.  
Baekhyun watched him with a pinch of jealousy, wondering if the king liked him. This one wasn't like Chanyeol and the others, this boy was broad, and he glided, he did not walk.  
He looked different, like he hadn't just been plucked from somewhere in the nearest town. This one was different.  
He sat across from Baekhyun in an empty seat, and everyone stared intently, so much that the guard hit the table and ordered them all to finish their meals.

The guard left them to be after a while, and right away Jongin leaned over to talk to the boy first. "Where'd you come from?" He asked, closely staring.

Kyungsoo scoffed, glancing over at them both with an envious glare, "Can't you tell who that is, Jongin. He's the boy everyone has been talking about in the town for months now."

The boy stayed quiet while Jongin tried to think back to anything he might have heard.  
Kyungsoo kept gnawing off the meat from a bone and finished explaining, "He was one of the voyager's boys. His people tried to conquer the land and were killed. I think they call him Sehun."  
A few other boys gawked with awe, partially out of surprise, and Jongin was no exception.

Baekhyun thought it was best if he said something now, to let this 'Sehun' know what he was getting into.  
He picked up one of the cutting knifes and stabbed it into the table, causing some of the others to jump, "Don't get comfortable in your chamber, then, voyager. You're not an escapee, you are an unwanted refugee who will, in no time, die by one of us during battle." Baekhyun felt pleased with himself and smirked.

Sehun looked at him and hadn't touched not even a piece off his platter, "We know about your king, I was brought in here because the king wanted me."  
Sehun turned his gaze and Baekhyun flared at him furiously. Sehun looked over at Kyungsoo with no more emotion than he gave Baekhyun, "And my people did not come to conquer anything, they came to trade, but once the king saw the boats were of mostly young, he took advantage and killed most, let some go, and kept me and another. Though it's clear now that the other one has been killed as well."

Kyungsoo stood up and put his hands down on the table as he leaned forward, "You don't scare me. I bet your fight is nowhere near what you're letting off right now. What does a voyager know except for how to offer his body?"

Sehun smiled, it was condescending, and clear enough that he was amused at their behavior. He looked around the room and at all the faces staring at him. "Clearly you've all been trained to act this way."

Jongin's glare faltered and he leaned forward again toward Sehun, "Actually, there was another person that the guards brought. There wasn't anymore room they said, so they put him to cell with me."

Just then the doors came back open and the guards returned with another person in hand.  
It was Luhan, their frequent runaway.

"Sit. Eat," Commanded the guard and then gave Luhan a nudge toward the table.

Sehun's gaze softened by just the sight of Luhan, who huffed and walked to find a seat by Kyungsoo. Baekhyun noticed Sehun staring and felt another pinch of jealousy, although strangely, he wasn't sure why he felt it, he just knew he didn't like how Sehun was looking at Luhan.

Baekhyun pulled out the knife from the table and leaned forward, pointing it straight ahead. This did the job quickly to bring Sehun's attention back to him. "I hope you know how to do more than sail. We're on land, not the waters, you don't drown in the fields by the sea, but by blood."

Chanyeol put his hand up and waved it around quickly, "Keep quiet, Baekhyun, you make it seem like we're all nothing better than savages." Chanyeol twirled on his seat and faced Sehun's direction, "I'm Chanyeol, one of the King's favorites." He then lazily pointed at Baekhyun next, "That there-is actually his favorite dog. And then there's Kyungsoo, Jongdae, Kris, Xiumin..."

Luhan lifted his hand, as Chanyeol forgot to mention him, "Luhan."

Sehun looked at him again and held the gaze between them. "This it?"

"There used to be more of us," Chanyeol answered with a sigh. "but the King is never satisfied, he likes to see us fight, for no good reason so, we fight."

Sehun looked down at his platter. It was bread and fruit. "Is this what they will feed us?"

Chanyeol started to respond, but Jongin was quicker, "This is what we get if we've all done well, or not well enough. If one of us does more than another, he feasts in his own chamber with better choices. He eats alone to prevent jealousy from others."  
Sehun looked around at the rest of their platters. All of them were having the same thing, except for Kyungsoo and Baekhyun.  
They had meat on their platters. Baekhyun saw the puzzling gaze and spoke, "Kyungsoo and I were fighting after the trumpets called for us to stop. The king admired it and rewarded us."

It was just a few pieces of pork and extra berries, but still, Sehun wondered why no one was reaching over to grab it off his plate.  
Baekhyun lifted the cutting knife and twirled it around with his fingers before stabbing the table again, feeling like he could read Sehun's thoughts.

Baekhyun quirked a brow at him, almost inviting the challenge. Sehun just stared at him before lifting his plate and offering it to Luhan.  
A few boys gasped. And Baekhyun was startled into annoyance. "What are you doing, fool. If you don't eat, then you will starve. We only get one meal a day," He sneered.

Luhan paused before taking the platter. It stayed between he and Sehun, his hand on one end, and Sehun's hand on the other end.

Baekhyun turned his head at Luhan swiftly, fuming. "Give it back to him," he commanded.

Luhan huffed before he accepted it and put the extra food down on his own plate, "if he doesn't want to eat, then be it, his fate."  
Kyungsoo laughed, in which instantly triggered the other boys to cackle with him.

Baekhyun found it to not be amusing and returned glaring eyes at Sehun. Sehun was already looking his way and giving a dark gaze.  
It was the very same one Sehun had given the guard the night before. Baekhyun knew then, this new comer was going to be a problem.

 

 

It was going to be the third night for Sehun. The third night spent inside a chamber. Baekhyun wanted to see him break down and cry about being hungry, he wanted to see some kind of pain and need.  
But Sehun was holding up.  
And during daylight on the first three days so far, after they were let outside for their two hours, Baekhyun couldn't find him. Sehun would go off somewhere and then would return before the guards would have to search for him.

It made Baekhyun feel curious about him, but he didn't want to have to talk to Sehun and he didn't want to be kind at all with him.

The next fight was approaching them fast, and Sehun was going be in it with everyone else. Baekhyun didn't want to talk to him before then, he wanted to see Sehun in the woods and see how tough he could be.  
But by the fourth nightfall, Baekhyun couldn't stop watching him, he couldn't keep his eyes off Sehun as he sat on his bed, trying to be discreet about it. He stared at Sehun from behind cell bars, over bent and covered knees.

Sehun was on his bed reading. Baekhyun wondered if Sehun had stolen the book from town, or if a soldier had stolen it for him.  
Baekhyun had never read a book before, not once in his lifetime, it only gave him more of a reason to be envious and curious. And the fact that Sehun wasn't talking to him either, it was infuriating.  
Sehun wasn't trying to make even the slightest effort to speak. Had hardly glanced his way.

Baekhyun lowered his legs and could see him clearer. He took in a breath before he got out of bed, then he walked to the bars as he began to speak,"You, there."

Sehun didn't look at him, only turned a page in his book, giving a slight hum of acknowledgment.

Baekhyun felt strange. Hot around his neck. He felt embarrassed, but he quickly ignored it, "Excuse me, boy, I'm speaking to you."

Sehun turned another page and looked over at Baekhyun silently.

"How did you get a book?" Baekhyun snarled, "I bet you don't even know how to read it." He then laughed at the thought of someone pretending to know how.

Sehun closed the book in his hands and put it down on the bed before standing up. He walked to his side of the bars, and for an odd reason, it made Baekhyun nervous. He took a step back, although he was aware that Sehun couldn't reach him from their distance.

"I take it you're going to come after me the moment you have the chance," Spoke Sehun.

"Smart boy. Must be all the reading." Baekhyun took advantage of their separate cells, using a mocking tone and a slight smile.

Sehun wasn't fazed much however, not by any of the insults Baekhyun was using, "Unless you have something important to tell me, refrain from speaking." Sehun then turned and walked back to his bed.

Baekhyun scoffed at his attitude, it was unbelievably aggravating. He had a feeling Sehun thought he was better than him.  
It was on the tip of his tongue to start mocking Sehun for the way he seemingly, too gracefully walked, but Baekhyun was too worked up already.  
He turned and went back to his bed as well. And yet, he wasn't done speaking, "What is reading going to do for you anyway? The king will never let any of us go."

Sehun's eyes turned at him again, "I guess it is pointless then. To an extent." He then stood up once more, with the book in hand this time, and returned to standing behind the bars.  
Sehun kept the book closed as he slipped it through a gap, extending it outward, and toward Baekhyun's side of the room.

Baekhyun stared at him confused before slowing getting up. "What are you doing?" He asked as he took hesitant steps forward.

"I've already read it. Perhaps you might enjoy it. It's useless, sure, but I don't see much of anything else to entertain ourselves, do you?"  
Sehun kept his arm stretched out, using the book as a peace offering.

Baekhyun pressed himself against the cell while still cautiously watching Sehun. He started to put an arm through, started to reach out, and then quickly withdrew himself.

Sehun laughed softly, "Just grab it. I'm not going to trick you."

Baekhyun slowly lifted his arm again and pressed sideways to have a better reach. His hand stretched and stretched.  
Once his fingers grazed the side of soft material, Sehun withdrew himself swiftly and threw the book at the wall behind him.

Baekhyun was stunned, a small gasp escaping his lips as he watched it slap at the stone and flutter shut on the ground.  
He truly hadn't expected Sehun to go back on his word, and Baekhyun's startled and wide eyes gave away just how surprised he was that Sehun had.

Sehun stared at Baekhyun and then with a shrug went back to his bed and sat down. "I'll see you on the field, Baekhyun."

It took a moment before Baekhyun could collect his thoughts. A moment before he took back his arm and pulled away from the bars.  
It left him feeling embarrassed and tricked. Those feelings quickly formed and turned to hate.

Baekhyun now knew for sure he wasn't going to be thinking twice once he had Sehun on the ground and at the wrong end of a blade.


	2. Chapter 2

* * *

* * *

 

The trumpets blew, blaring through the sky from afar. Baekhyun had been looking everywhere for Sehun in the woods and hadn’t found him. The fight was ending, but he wanted to get one good hit in. Knock Sehun down a few notches.

Baekhyun ignored the trumpets that called for a return and kept searching before it was too late. He came across the view of Sehun in a small clearing and he quickly crouched down behind some bushes before he could be seen. Sehun was standing under the shadows of trees and holding Yixing tightly in his arms. Yixing was someone Baekhyun had recently learned about, he was one of the voyagers that had be captured with Sehun, and by the way they were holding each other, Baekhyun knew right away their relationship was more than a normal one. He stayed hidden, watching as Sehun reluctantly let go after Yixing said a few words to him. Their voices were too quiet for Baekhyun to hear and after lingering for another moment, he turned and ran off to go join the others back at the field.

 

 

During their evening feast, Baekhyun couldn’t get what he saw out of his head. He wanted to tell Sehun he saw him with that boy. That Yixing. And he wanted to bring it up in front of everyone, yet once the chance to do it came, once everyone was seated, Baekhyun backed out and ate quietly. Yixing and Sehun didn’t speak to each other or look at each other. It almost became too clear to Baekhyun that they were involved and trying to keep it secret.

As the meal came to an end, the guards collected them in pairs. Yixing and Jongin left first, and then a few others, and then Chanyeol and Kyungsoo were last before Baekhyun and Sehun were taken. After a guard came to retrieve them from the meal room, Baekhyun tapped Sehun on his backside as they were walking down the corridor. “I saw what you did in the woods," He whispered, leaning up close to Sehun’s nape.

Sehun glanced down at Baekhyun over a shoulder and then looked forward at the guard that was leading them before he replied, “I don’t know what you’re talking about. I didn’t see you anywhere.”

“Because you were hiding from me,” Baekhyun spat. The guard stopped when he heard a voice rise from behind him, then looked and gave a stern glare that told them to be quiet. Baekhyun was only hushed for a second. As soon as the guard was faced forward again, he was talking, “…But that’s not what I’m talking about here. I saw you touching Yixing.”

Sehun kept looking forward, openly ignoring him now. Baekhyun decided to wait until they had time to themselves before he would say more. The guard opened the room door with a master key and then pushed Sehun inside first. Sehun gave him a tad bit of resistance, but Baekhyun didn’t need a nudge, he simply walked ahead and went to the chamber that was assigned to him. Sehun sighed once he reached the door to his cell and it earned a nasty glower from the guard that was eager to put him in. He stared at Sehun trying to intimidate him, and after a silent moment, he and Baekhyun were both put away and locked in for the rest of the night. And before leaving the room, the guard decided to make it brutally darker. He walked to each candle nest hung on the wall outside their cells and blew the flames out. Those were the only lights keeping it possible for anyone to see anything.

When all became quiet and dark, Baekhyun shot forward to the cell bars, needing no light, he knew they there, and he whispered loudly, “I saw the way you were holding Yixing, and I’m going to tell the guards about it.” He didn’t care if they could barely see each other. He didn’t need to see Sehun’s face.

There was a stilled pause, then a very shallow reply, “Don’t, please.”

Baekhyun listened as he could hear Sehun stand up and come closer. “Why shouldn’t I?”

“Because they will hang him. We were together before we came here, I only wanted to be sure he was okay.” Sehun’s tone was different tonight. Baekhyun felt better knowing Yixing was a sensitive topic for him. Or better, a weakness.

Baekhyun stood quiet for a minute and then pushed for more, “Together how?”

A sigh came from Sehun’s side. “We…were lovers. We aren’t anymore, but I still care for him. Please, you must keep it a secret from the guards.”

Baekhyun pulled away from the bars and his face twisted in disgust. “ _Lovers_?” He spat, and then he turned and took a few steps away to process it. Sehun had a lover. Sehun and Yixing were lovers. Baekhyun didn’t want to hear that, and yet he couldn’t quite grasp why It made him feel so ill. He started to gag, “God, why would anyone dare make you a lover?”

As Sehun spoke, the closeness of his voice let Baekhyun know that he was still near the bars. “I’ve known him since I was barely able to walk. It just happened that way.”

Baekhyun felt around until he touched the mattress of his bed and then sat down with a huff as he thought it over more, of what good would really come of him for telling on Sehun. Yixing and Sehun may both be hung for it, but if the others learn that Baekhyun tattled, they might all grow to hate him more aggressively than before. He might die because of his mouth.

With a reluctant sigh, Baekhyun replied stiffly, he decided this might be his only secret, “Fine. I won’t tell anyone, but I suggest you and…Yixing to not make it so obvious.”

“Obvious? You wouldn’t have known yourself if not for you what you saw.”

“And It could have very well been anyone else!” Baekhyun snapped. Held back his urge to swear at him.

Sehun could be heard shifting his weight. Baekhyun wondered just how long he was going to stand there, then a breath later, Sehun was speaking up again, “If I must, I’ll pay you for your secrecy.”

Baekhyun turned his head toward the cell block, he was starting to see a shadowy figure there, “Where and how will you pay me?”

“Tell me what you want,” Sehun answered calmly, “One thing, however. Name one of anything in the world and I will get it for you.”

Baekhyun laughed at Sehun’s ridiculous and clearly false promise. But As confident as Sehun sounded, Baekhyun decided to give him a run for his word and played along. “I want to have something sweet. I’ve never had something sweet before. Get it for me.”

Sehun hummed, the sound of its deep rumble echoed off the walls. “How about a special treat, then?”

“Do you mean like a cake?” Baekhyun sat up quickly, finding himself easily forgetting it was supposed to be pretend, “Could you really get me a slice of cake?”

Sehun hummed again, much quieter, “I suppose It wouldn’t hurt to try.”

Baekhyun shook his head with another boisterous laugh, “There’s no way.” And he kept laughing as he started to climb under his cover. In fact, it was so funny to him that his laugh was now audible enough to bounce of the walls as well, and he was so eager to see Sehun making a fool of himself that he added, “Fine, get me a slice of cake. If you can do that, your secret is safe, and I will kiss your hand in gratitude.” His laugh continued as he rolled on his side, it only died down once he heard Sehun walk back to his own bed.

He knew there was no way Sehun could get him anything like that. Sehun wasn’t anyone special. He wasn’t royalty. He wasn’t a soldier or a magician. He was nothing but a captured voyager.

 

 

Although they could roam during the day for two hours, Baekhyun didn’t ever know where to go. No one had ever taken him anywhere and explored the grounds with him. Sometimes he would see Chanyeol racing horses with one of the other boys, and sometimes he’d see Xiumin and Jongdae sparing with each other, but he would never see Sehun, even on the prettiest days, when the flowers were touched by a soft wind. It wasn’t until Sehun wanted to be found, and when Baekhyun saw him, he wasn’t alone. Sehun was talking with Luhan, and they were sitting side by side and crafting little men with sticks under a group of shaded trees. Baekhyun knew Sehun would eventually talk to Luhan. He knew it would happen from the first moment Sehun had laid eyes on him. Still, Baekhyun wondered to himself if Sehun had felt attracted to Luhan right away, or if they had known each other beforehand somehow. And he couldn’t ask Sehun this, he refused to, and he didn’t want Sehun to have to look down at him just to speak.

Baekhyun waited until Sehun and Luhan parted instead. It wasn’t a long time before Luhan got up and bowed to Sehun, leaving with a few of the stick men in his hands that Sehun had made with twigs and leaves. Baekhyun quickly followed Luhan and found him several steps later inside one of the horse stables.

Luhan turned and looked, alert and wary, as Baekhyun approached him.

“Why were you talking to Sehun?” Baekhyun asked him.

Luhan could hear that Baekhyun was annoyed. It was tight in his words. Luhan faced one of the horses front of him and lifted a hand to rub at its snout. He was less afraid of Baekhyun outside the woods. “I don’t think it concerns you.”

“Maybe it does, maybe it doesn’t,” Baekhyun retorted, a quirk of his lip, “Or maybe if you don’t tell me, I’ll look for you during the fight purposely and break your arm.”

Luhan looked at him, baffled, startled by how aggressive he was being. “Why are you always acting like this? He was just asking me why I keep running off, that’s all we were talking about.”

Baekhyun tilted his chin up and folded his arms, “Did he say anything about me?”

Put off and more confused, Luhan turned away from Baekhyun and started to walk off. “Why would we talk about you. You don’t like any of us, and if I had to guess, I wouldn’t put it pass me that Sehun doesn’t like you either.”

Before Luhan could leave the stable or get anywhere far, Baekhyun swiftly stepped in front of him and blocked his way out. “Okay, listen to me, I just want to ask you one thing about him.”

Luhan paused and folded his arms over his chest as he gave him the chance to speak, “Okay. Just Ask.”

Baekhyun started, “Do you think he-“ Then hesitated. His mouth opened, stayed open, then shut quickly. He stopped himself, suddenly realizing this constant bothering from his own thoughts about Sehun. He shouldn’t care if Sehun wanted to befriend Luhan. And he didn’t even know what he was about to ask Luhan, or what the purpose of it was supposed to be for.

Baekhyun stepped out of Luhan’s path quickly, feeling uneasy, but not letting it show. “Never mind.”

It only confused Luhan more, but he let Baekhyun leave the stable without questioning his odd behavior.

Baekhyun moved fast and went far away from where Sehun could be seen sitting. To not see him, to not be tempted by some strange and unkind force to steal glances. However, there wasn’t anywhere he knew to go because of no knowledge for the grounds. Baekhyun decided to go back inside the palace and return to his chamber.

 

 

It looked heavenly. Creamy frosting carefully kept untouched by Sehun’s fingers as it was held out and presented. It was being cradled in Sehun’s palms, a tiny cake. Ribbons of velvet red, and a dollop of brown, in which Baekhyun licked his lips at imagining how it would taste. On top of it was a half sunken slice of fruit, sticking up from the frost like an overturned ship. It looked just as sweet. Filled with juices.

Sehun had found Baekhyun hiding and watching one of the other boys attentively. He almost got a yelp out of Baekhyun by how quiet he had snuck up behind him, however in response to being found, Baekhyun wasn’t upset. Because Sehun’s smile had been a clear indication that he had something to give him. They then traveled a bit further into the woods, to a greater cluster of trees and stood there together. Now as Sehun was showing him the thing thought to be unobtainable, Baekhyun didn’t know what to say, or he couldn’t say how he felt, he could only feel himself smile, “How have you done it, you little thief.” Baekhyun took the slice of cake from Sehun’s open hand and stuffed the tip of it in his mouth. It was all enormously sugary sweet. Baekhyun was hit with pleasure, overwhelmed with his taste buds going mad for the savory lush of cream slipping across his tongue.

After he swallowed the first bite, his head tilted back, and his eyes went rolling with it. It was the best thing he had ever had in his life. Sehun watched him while he ate it. Baekhyun took his time, making highly appreciative moans with every bite until it was gone, and then sucking the icing off his fingers. Once it was gone completely, thoughts returned to normal and now Baekhyun wanted to ask Sehun how he had managed to get a piece of cake.

Baekhyun stared suspiciously at him, tongue swiping out to get the last bit of cream off his bottom lip, “Where could you have ever gotten such a treat? There’s no way you waltz into the kitchens and grabbed it for yourself.” However, Baekhyun was starting to consider, that in fact, maybe he had.

Sehun smiled and placed his hands behind his back, holding them there, “My debt is paid.”

Baekhyun lowered his eyes at him, thinking maybe he could get more out of this, “What if I say it’s not?”

“It is, or do you plan to keep me running around and risking my life for you?” Sehun brought one hand in front of him and folded it down, “Also, I do believe you owe me a kiss.”

Baekhyun stared at his hand and almost laughed, “I’m not kissing your hand. You should be kissing my hand. Be grateful I haven’t told anyone your dirty secret, no, better yet, be grateful I’m here talking to you right now and haven’t stabbed you with my knife.” He had a rusted one sitting in a swaddle on his belt.

Sehun glanced down at it, it was tucked safe at Baekhyun’s hip, and he sighed, dropping his hand to his side. “Why would anyone be grateful to a someone he can overpower?”

“You think you can overpower me?” Baekhyun brought his eyes down Sehun’s build. He was greater in height, but Baekhyun feared no one, only the king, “We’re here now, so what do you say? Kill me now and I have no choice but to keep your secret.”

A spark of interest flashed in Sehun’s eyes. Baekhyun looked at Sehun’s hands and noticed they were empty. He had no way of protecting himself. Baekhyun brought his gaze back up with a smirk, “Or are you afraid?” He tilted his head trying to lure Sehun into charging at him so he could strike him. But Sehun didn’t move.

“I’m sure we can come to a compromise,” Sehun replied, rather calmly.

Baekhyun licked his lips, watching him for a moment. “What kind of compromise? what else can you do for me?”

“I’ll read to you.”

The answer caused Baekhyun’s confidence to shift. He straightened his head, as the idea of hearing a story from a book made him feel strange. He carefully observed Sehun, certain it would be another way for him to be tricked. “Why would you ever want to read to me?” Answered Baekhyun, hesitantly.

Something in the woods made a noise. They both looked, but it was nothing but a small animal. Sehun returned his gaze to Baekhyun, “For a couple reasons. I’ll read a few pages out my book if you keep your word and stay away from Yixing. Fight me all you want, but don’t go near him.”

The deal seemed hardly fair. Baekhyun’s gaze fell into a glower, and he thought back quickly to what he had seen them do. “No. The whole book, then, I’ll keep my words.”

Sehun’s hand came forward, “Swear on your life.”

Baekhyun stared at the hand, he didn’t want to shake it, or keep his word, but he was conflicted about how he should handle the information regardless. Baekhyun slowly gave Sehun his hand, knowing it was better to let Sehun think he would tattle, rather than admit he was having doubts. Once their hands were connected, Baekhyun felt a light tug as Sehun shook it.

“The deal is sealed,” Sehun told him. Baekhyun was about to warn Sehun to run, but then he heard the trumpets calling. The leaves rattled in the wind and they turned their heads up at the sky and listened. Baekhyun stared at the opening disappointingly, he hadn’t given much to this fight, so he knew he wouldn’t be eating nothing more than bread tonight. He’d be better off dealing with Sehun next time.

 

 

Baekhyun kept his head down, staring at an empty platter. Kyungsoo’s platter was empty as well. In fact, no one was given any reward. No one had done much of anything. Baekhyun was furious with himself, and he started to believe the others weren’t harming each other on purpose. Were just always after him, instead. He glanced up and around the table, after there was a few exchanged words and prayers had gone away, somber faces returned, and everyone remained quiet as the reality of hunger sank in.

Baekhyun would have thought Sehun, of all of them, would have stolen himself something to eat, or pulled it out his arse like he’d seemed to have done with that slice of cake. Baekhyun glared at the top of his head for a long time and wished he could yell at him for doing something wrong, but Sehun hadn’t done anything wrong. None of them had really, done anything wrong. 

The guard came after the meal was over to collect Baekhyun and Sehun and he led them back to their chambers. Another night of light rain showers. Once the doors came closed and locked, the guard turned to face Sehun once more. Sehun stared back at the man. Cold and untamed. It was that frightening look again. The one that Baekhyun didn’t like. The guard hit the bars with his fist to rattle it and Baekhyun knew the man was trying to see Sehun react in some terrified way, the way Baekhyun had, the way they all had, but Sehun wasn’t like them. He showed not an ounce of fear. After a failed attempt of scaring Sehun, the guard blew out the candles again. It was an act of control, the fact that he could, and then he left.

 

 

Two nights came and went, and no soldiers had not come to open the doors for them. Only one guard had come once to bring them each a tiny platter of bread and a pint of water for the day before leaving again. Baekhyun could feel it in his stomach that something was wrong, that the king must be upset at the lack of efforts everyone was putting forth in the fights recently. Baekhyun thought that by not being let out and only being fed bread, the king was trying to starve them into bestial behavior. He wanted them to tear each other apart.

It was frightening to think of it that way, but what Baekhyun remembered, it had always been like that. He could remember being scared as a child, for his life, and cowering in places of the woods so that he wouldn’t be seen or not have to fight. Back when other boys were much bigger and stronger than him.

These were self-defeating thoughts that Baekhyun was drowning himself in, and after being on his bed for a while and in the dark, he heard a small whisper.

“Shall I read to you now?”

Baekhyun rolled his head over, looking at the shadows. At the other side of the room where it was black. He didn’t feel like responding or talking to Sehun at all. He was feeling terribly low, and he didn’t think a childish, fictional book, could do anything to make him feel better. Sehun waited for a response, and it was a long time between his question and the silence before he started reading aloud to Baekhyun on his own.

Baekhyun looked up at the window in the wall as he listened to the soft storytelling. It started like a whisper. Somewhat hesitant.

Baekhyun knew Sehun was uncertain himself if he should continue. There was no real purpose. He would say a few words and then pause, listening for any movement. But Baekhyun made it impossible for Sehun to hear him. He stayed quietly breathing and sunken, completely still as he turned his eyes back toward that side of the room when Sehun’s sporadic breaks between breaths became full sentences. Sehun kept reading, kept going until he had finished several pages. Baekhyun envied how Sehun could read literature and enjoy it. 

The storytelling stopped with a light rustle of fingers turning paper, Sehun’s voice fading into the dark. Baekhyun got up and walked over to where he could feel the bars, they were cold steel, stiff as he grabbed onto them. “Could you read more, please?”

“That’s all I’ve got in me for tonight,” Sehun responded, sounding tired. The book closed with a soft thump.

“How did you learn to read?”

“Everyone on the island knows how to read.”

Baekhyun answered ashamedly, “I don’t.” His forehead touching the icy iron.

“Didn’t your parents care to teach you? or could they not read either?” Baekhyun couldn’t see Sehun, but he knew the question was genuine. Even so, he hadn’t an answer for it. He hadn’t thought about it all, not much until he was asked, of where he’d come from and who his parents where.

“I don’t know if they can read. I have never met my mother. Don’t know my father. I don’t know how I got here, really, but I have been here entirely, and I was taken care of by many different servants.”

“Then you have dozens of mothers,” Sehun replied.

“If what Kyungsoo said about you is not true, then how were you captured and brought here? What purpose did your people have with the king?”

“I don’t know the purpose, I didn’t lead the sail,” Sehun told him, “But by my understanding, the king killed us on his very own. It was our mistake to come here, and now we will never go back.” Baekhyun didn’t want to imagine how Sehun must be feeling. To be dragged from people he loved. But it was not abnormal, villagers died farming, commoners killed each other for food. It was all a very cultural understanding. Yet he wondered to himself what Sehun’s home was like and how far had he come from there to get to here, to simply be put in a cage and locked away for good. There was more to Sehun, Baekhyun knew that much. A sort of uniqueness about him, and although in the beginning, Baekhyun had been livid with a strange jealousy, he now couldn’t quite describe the way he was feeling about everything. About Sehun.

Baekhyun lifted his gaze, although he could still not see anything clearly, “Could you read some more for me? just another page and I will go to bed and leave you to your thoughts.”

He heard a light exhale and then the book unravel, the pages fluttering open, like tiny wings, “One more page, and we rest.”

Yet, Baekhyun couldn’t rest. Not after he had listened to Sehun speak gently to him, and as if to quietly ease him to slumber. After the reading finished, Baekhyun walked back to his bed and climbed on top of it. He drifted off after hours of staring at the dark and wishing he could hear Sehun speak that way to him for years to come. Over and over again. Retell the story. Tell it all over again and make him forget the ending. Make the beginning feel exciting again. Excitement. Baekhyun felt it when his eyes began to lift open and he saw that it was daylight. He didn’t know how long he had slept, but his stomach felt tighter than it did last night. He stayed in bed until the guard came and unlocked their chambers. Then the same man came back and told Baekhyun he had permission to leave.

Baekhyun rubbed his eyes as he stood up, shivering lightly when his feet touched the ground. Instead of changing or wearing shoes, and instead of going right outside, Baekhyun crossed the space between his chamber and Sehun’s. He entered Sehun’s space quietly and saw Sehun was still in bed facing the wall. Baekhyun walked over to the side of him and sat down. For a moment, he wasn’t sure why he bothered, and then he patted a hand around and felt for the book that was hidden under the covers. Then as he pulled back the sheet that was covering it, the upper half of Sehun’s body was also revealed. Sehun turned over as he woke up and saw him. Baekhyun froze the very instant, not knowing how to explain why he was sitting on his bed. Sehun slowly arose, sleepily and confused, “How did you get in here?”

“We have our two hours. It’s midday.”

Sehun looked around, yawning, and looking no less bewildered why Baekhyun had yet to move. “Shouldn’t you be out there with everyone else?”

Baekhyun grabbed the book, “I want you to read to me.”

“It’s the only hours of the day we get to be outside these walls, and instead of seeing the sun, you’ve sat yourself here and waited to tell me you want me to read from some silly book.” Sehun pulled his legs out and turned to sit at the side of the bed. Baekhyun watched him stretch, yawning again as he twisted from side to side, “I’m not doing it.”

“Then we’ll find a spot to read it outside,” Baekhyun insisted, feeling rather coy about his own persistence.

“I don’t want to read to you, Baekhyun.” Sehun grabbed the book from him and tossed it, “I only did it because we made a deal. I don’t have to do it again until I feel like doing it."

Baekhyun stood up with a clinching jaw as he spoke, “Then your secret isn’t safe.”

Sehun got up next, much slower, and stared down at Baekhyun with his piercing gaze. Baekhyun felt himself falter as he took a step back, a split second of worry between his brows. “You’ve made your word already, and if you do something that harms him, then I will hurt you.”

Baekhyun held himself still, then out of a rage of jealousy and embarrassment he walked over to where the book was and tore it open. Furiously, he pulled at one page after the other, and he began shouting, “Fine! Fine! then neither one of us will have it!” And another page was torn. Another, and then another. The paper was being shredded relentlessly, pulled into tiny pieces and then thrown back at Sehun’s face.

Sehun did nothing as the pieces swayed toward the ground by his feet.

Baekhyun turned and spat at the ground, “There’s your silly book, boy.” Then out of Sehun’s chamber he went, quickly to return to his own. He grabbed his shoes and ran out the room before Sehun could make any sudden moves to stop him.

 

 

Once a week the boys were escorted to bathe. There were two separate baths, both behind a pair of doors at the end of a hall and in one room. During their two hours on the day of baths, the boys could choose if they wanted to bathe or not. Everyone always chose to feel the water, and it was the only place the guards did not stay to watch them. It was almost like, in this room, they were really free. However, Baekhyun didn’t know what freedom felt like, so it didn’t feel like much except a bathhouse.

Before the guards left them to bathe themselves, three guards lined them up and counted everyone to make sure of the ones that were there. Then one of the men gave them permission to begin before all three of them left the room. Right away, Chanyeol let out a relieved sigh and started tearing off his clothes. Kyungsoo and Jongdae was seconds behind him, rushing to claim space in a bath. It was misty in the bathhouse, and the floor was slippery. Baekhyun wasn’t standing next to Sehun until one of the boys moved away after dropping clothes to the floor. He saw Sehun get rid of his shirt and then place it on the ground. Baekhyun hadn’t intended on staring at him, but when his gaze landed on Sehun’s bare body, he couldn’t see one reason not to like what he was looking at. He kept a blank face as he dragged his eyes down, while slowly undressing himself, too.

Sehun got down to his undergarments, and in seconds, those were on the ground next, then he looked over at Baekhyun, and he caught those eyes roaming down to a less subtle place to stare at. Sehun cleared his throat, “Baekhyun, your eyes seem to be bothered by something.”

Baekhyun snapped his gaze up and looked away, but at the corner of his eye he saw a quiet chuckle come from Sehun’s mouth, then Sehun moved across the room to one of the boiling hot baths. The one that Yixing had chosen. Everyone else was chatting together and occupying the other one. Once Baekhyun was completely undressed he decided to join Yixing and Sehun, to keep them from having any time to themselves or to talk in whispers. He didn’t want to see them together, not even in the same room, but he couldn’t control much of where they could and couldn’t go, so he did what he could do. He picked their bath.

Baekhyun walked up to the side and stopped at the edge. Sehun turned in the water to look up at him, and he brought his gaze up deliberately slow. From Baekhyun’s feet, to his inner thighs, past his torso, and then lastly, to his face. Baekhyun knew It was done intentionally. Sehun had just gave him a full look-over because he was caught doing it to him earlier, first.

He got down and slipped into the hot water with a hiss and a breath, then stayed next to the wall and tilted his head back as he got comfortable, “This is everlasting.” Baekhyun sighed.

“It is,” Yixing answered him. He was on the same side of the bath Sehun was.

Baekhyun brought his head forward after hearing that voice, and he stared at him, then at Sehun. Sehun let his body dip further under the water and then rested his head back before he closed his eyes, Yixing glanced at him with a tiny smile on his lips.

Baekhyun lowered himself more, too, the water began to rise and cover his neck. He couldn’t stop thinking about what Sehun had said. About them being lovers. Baekhyun pondered it, how hard it was for them now, to not touch, to not look at each other for too long. Those thoughts were irritating. Baekhyun turned away, deciding he didn’t care, and put his arms up on the side of the bath, his body pressing at the wall under the water as he lowered his chin to rest on his forearms. He didn’t want to waste any more energy thinking more about it, he wanted to enjoy this time in the water.

Baekhyun looked at the other bath, and he saw Chanyeol and Kyungsoo talking to each other. Flicking water at each other. He’d yet to see them behave that way together, seeing it now made him feel oddly uncomfortable. Chanyeol and Kyungsoo shared the same room, so Baekhyun began to wonder if they ever talked after hours, and if they knew each other better than anyone else knew them here. His gaze then went to Jongin.

By sheer coincidence, Jongin was coming up from the water and saw Baekhyun staring. Jongin wiped the water from his face and smirked at him. Baekhyun quickly looked away at something else. Everyone was acting strange in the bathhouse. Baekhyun thought, perhaps it was the lack of guards here that was keeping them from acting obediently. Or the lack of food making them all delirious. One thing for sure, he knew they must all be starving, just as he was.

Once things eventually quieted down, Baekhyun almost fell asleep at his spot, chin propped on his arms. He opened his eyes, groggily, and saw Chanyeol and Kyungsoo resting, too, with their eyes shut. Jongin, Jongdae and all the others, quiet and resting. A few of them lying on the floor outside the bath.

It had come to a sweet silence, some sort of peace. Then Baekhyun thought he should turn around, maybe Yixing and Sehun was taking advantage of this rare moment, maybe if he looked now, he could catch them doing something revolting.

Baekhyun brought down teeth to his bottom lip and slowly turned his head. He gazed over his shoulder and saw Yixing outside of the bath, laid on his front side with his head turned in the opposite direction, and Sehun was still in the same position as earlier, chin in the air, his head tilted back.

Baekhyun stared at the curve of his neck. It was moist. Glistening. He could understand why someone would be enamored by him. When Sehun wasn’t talking, he wasn’t bad to look at. Except Baekhyun was staring for too long. Long enough that when Sehun lifted his head and opened his eyes, he was caught. But instead of Baekhyun averting his gaze as he had earlier, there was something in Sehun’s hooded stare that told him he didn’t have to look at anything else. Sehun’s eyes held Baekhyun in place, keeping him locked in. Baekhyun felt helpless to the way Sehun stared at him, how his lowering gaze dropped gradually down the backside of his bare shoulder, skimming over every inch of exposed skin until it reached the water and came back up.

Baekhyun felt the bath become impossibly warmer and he turned to face Sehun, biting harder on his bottom lip. He wasn’t thinking about what he was doing, he just knew he liked the way Sehun was looking at him. He liked how everyone was sleeping. Not an eye to witness it. It was wrong to enjoy this small moment, but Baekhyun didn’t want to make the feeling go away. He didn’t care if he hated Sehun, he just wanted those eyes to be on him, at this very moment, and in that darkly lustful way. 

 

 

At sun down, Baekhyun was in bed. He regretted ripping up the book, because now he had no reason to talk to Sehun. He didn’t have any easy way of falling to sleep either. There was no rain, so the silence made him feel insane. He was lying on his bed with his eyes shut, finger massaging the bridge of his nose. He talked to himself, in his head, trying to coax himself into sleeping, but it took longer than normal. And the hunger in his stomach did nothing but irritate him, caused him to think of the fight, and of how badly he wanted to please the king.

 

 

Loyal soldiers marched the boys to the field. The sun was still high and baring down at them. Although the land was cold, and nearing winter, all was bright. The boys were lined up together, Baekhyun standing next to Kris, who stood next to Luhan and another and more. He looked toward the towers and saw the king was observing them today, with his singular looking glass, and behind it with a smirk after noticing his favorite fighter was watching him. Baekhyun closed his eyes and bowed his head. He took in a deep breath, concentrating on an empty stomach, and hoped he had enough strength to kill. By the time the trumpets blew, Baekhyun was ready.

The boys ran toward the table of weapons and grabbed the ones they were fortunate to get. Baekhyun was the second hand to reach it and took hold of the hatchet.

 

 

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**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Don't worry, there wont be any romance with Sehun and anyone else!


	3. Chapter 3

* * *

* * *

 

 

 

At first it hadn’t sounded like anything. Baekhyun thought he was dreaming when he heard a whisper get through to him and wake him. His eyelids fluttered open and he saw nothing above him, only the stones being lit by the candle fires outside the chambers. Another whisper came, sounding like a draft of a whispering spirit, but when he sat up, he saw that Sehun was sitting up in his bed also.

Baekhyun’s brows curled inward, “Was that you?”

Sehun got up slowly, nodding, and he walked over to the bars, “Look at your door. There are keys still in your door.”

Baekhyun got up, eyeing him questionably, “Keys?” he moved across the room and stopped at the iron, tilted forward slightly and could see there were indeed a handle of keys, and one grasping the hole of the door. Baekhyun looked up at Sehun with shock. Sehun gave him the go with a nod, to open it.

“I can’t.” Baekhyun feared if he took them, he would be punished.

“He must have left them there by accident. He had to come back to get your platters after bringing me back from the meal room. He must have forgotten to take them then.” Sehun bit his lip in excitement, “Push open the door and let me out too.”

Baekhyun swallowed anxiously, but he didn’t need to be persuaded much to do it. He got in close toward the side of the door and reached his hand on the outside of the bars to turn the key, it twisted accurately, and the door popped open. Baekhyun gasped, smiling up at Sehun with sheer excitement, “It worked!”

“Of course it worked! The key was waiting for you, Baekhyun. Good job, now come open mine and let’s go to town for drinks.”

Baekhyun laughed. Everything too fast for him to process at once. He moved over to the other door and unlocked it, but fumbled a bit, almost dropping the keys before he got it open. When Sehun stepped out he took Baekhyun’s hands and felt that they were shaking.

“Are you scared?” Sehun asked, staring up at Baekhyun’s face.

“This has never happened before. I used to runaway when I was very young, but now-now I never ever think about leaving this place.”

“Luhan ran off all the time. Take his courage and do the same.”

Baekhyun pulled his hands from Sehun’s, “We’re not supposed to be friends. I don’t want to be like Luhan. I shouldn’t really be talking to you like this, going anywhere with you like this.”

Sehun took hold of his hand again anyway, grasping it and tugging him, “Fine, we don’t have to be friends, but let’s go while we can and come back before dawn. It’ll be easy.”

“Sehun, no-“ But Baekhyun was being tugged around the corner and down the hall to the door that led to outside. “Sehun, I’m not wearing shoes!”

Sehun turned around and put a finger to his lips, it instantly made Baekhyun quiet, then he looked down and saw that he wasn’t lying and let go of his hand to go back and get Baekhyun’s shoes on his own. Baekhyun watched him return and come quietly to set the boots down by his feet. While Baekhyun put them on, he stared at the keys in Sehun’s hand. He’d easily trusted him to hold onto them, though he couldn’t understand why.

Once Baekhyun stood up, Sehun asked him about getting the other boys. “It’ll be too much noise if we go to every chamber in the palace, and I have no idea how or where they are.” Baekhyun admitted, disliking the idea of involving anyone else.

Sehun took the key to the main door and opened it. The corridor was empty before them. They looked at each other and took in a nervous breath. “Very quiet,” Sehun whispered to him. Baekhyun knew how to be silent, it came natural after sneaking up behind other fighters so many times. And he knew Sehun had to be excellent at it, too, by how he seemingly was impossible to hear creeping about the vegetation.

He’d thought Sehun would have put the idea behind them, of gathering up the boys, but Sehun was pulling Baekhyun down a side stairwell and to an even lower level of the palace where other chambers were most likely to be. They quietly ran down a spiraling stairwell and found that it ended with a wooden door. Sehun pushed the key in, a bit shaky also, but Baekhyun didn’t comment about Sehun being nervous, he knew they would all be scared if they were going to do this.

The door opened and there was a long hall. The one light at the very end of it gave an insignificant source of sight for anyone to see anything well enough, and the ligneous ground was damp, covered with shallow water. They walked through together seeing that most chambers were empty, and there was much more room for more boys than Baekhyun had believed there to be. Eventually they got to Chanyeol and Kyungsoo. Baekhyun saw to the right, Kyungsoo was there, whilst Sehun saw Chanyeol. They were both sleeping.

Baekhyun turned toward Sehun in time to see him putting the key in the lock and about to turn it over. “Sehun, wait. I don’t think we should involve them. They’re sleeping, so they’ll have to miss out.”

“Then what about the others?”

Baekhyun fumed silently, “Why does it matter? Let’s go on our own.”

Sehun stared at him for a moment before finally giving in. He understood they had limited time. “Alright, we can go together.”

But there was someone else in the room, a door down, someone else listening. “Baekhyun?” It was Jongin’s voice coming from one of the other chambers at the end of the hall. Sehun started to go to him, but Baekhyun stopped him with a hand to his arm. “Don’t,” He whispered harshly.

They turned back to the door that led to the staircase and quickly left alone. They went up together and closed the door behind them. Once they were back in the other corridor again, they knew exactly how to get out and passed the guards. During these late hours, many of the soldiers were sleeping, although they weren’t supposed to, or some of the guards were with servants. Sehun and Baekhyun crept passed the windows, ducking through the shadows, and passed the pillars until they got outside. They saw no one watching from the guard towers. Every inch of open air was silently waiting for them.

Down and through the gates they ran, slipping down the slope of the hill from the palace. Sehun was laughing more than Baekhyun was, it was the adrenaline and fear he was feeling together. Once they got to the bottom of the hill it was much easier access to open land. There was only a stretch of cobbled bridge that was the last path to cross for them to enter the town. Baekhyun could see the town lights and hear voices, and he looked at Sehun with a smile forming of wonder.

They passed over the bridge together, hearing a running stream down below. Before reaching the other side, Baekhyun stopped and look over it and saw fishes of strange colors down underneath. “Look there!” He pointed and leaned over the side to see more. Sehun joined him and looked down at the water.

“There’s more to see in the town.” He turned his head and smiled brighter, “More to drink.”

“More water?” Baekhyun asked happily, “Or wine?”

“Both,” Sehun encouraged and then grabbed Baekhyun’s hand again to hurry their traveling. Entering the town was stepping into a dream, a wonderful dream he’s never once had. It was bright. It was loud. There were carriages, horses being fed apples by men with big grins and chatting with laughing bellies, and next to them stood giggling women. Sehun took Baekhyun passed a bakery, one directly across from a tavern-inn and spoke excitably, “This is where I stole the cake for you.”

Baekhyun allowed Sehun to drag him around and see the people, then he was taken inside to view the pastries. It was late, Baekhyun had thought these shops would be closed, that there would be hardly anyone awake; however, Sehun told him the town was quite opposite of that. Quieter during the day. After looking through the glass containers at many miniature pies and cakes, Sehun took Baekhyun to a tavern. Inside it were rowdy drunk men.

Baekhyun looked around observing the faces and noticing the lack of table space. “Where will we sit?” He asked, turning to look up at Sehun.

“Nowhere in here. This place isn’t safe.” Sehun laughed, “We can get two pints and then run out with them.”

“Can you do that?” Baekhyun looked intrigued, yet nervous.

“It’s possible.” Sehun left him standing there and went off to the bar. He spoke to the man making drinks, easily, not seeming out of place. Not the way Baekhyun felt. Baekhyun continued eyeing the room, many of the man looked red and sleepy. When Sehun came back over to him with the two pints, he was anything but slow, telling Baekhyun quickly to run out the door. Baekhyun hesitated with a baffled face until he saw the bartender coming around the counter to come after them. Sehun was already out the door by the time the words left his mouth, “Run!” And Baekhyun felt himself laughing as he quickly turned and followed trail.

They ran to the corner of the road, through an alley, and further. Baekhyun wasn’t sure where he was going. He followed blindly. Sehun kept going until they were far enough to stop and look back and not see the tavern anymore. They took their first swigs of beer on a dirt trail. It was in the middle of tall grass and trees. “This taste wonderful,” Baekhyun panted out, and wiping dribble off his mouth afterwards.

Sehun licked his lips, “It always does taste better when it’s free.” They laughed again, having more to drink.

“Are you really a voyager? and were your boats all filled up with thieves?”

Sehun pulled the pint down from his mouth, but his smile retreated slightly, “We didn’t come to take anything, Baekhyun. I promise you. I'll be honest, we came because the king wanted silk from our island.”

Baekhyun sat down on the path, then turned his head up to look at Sehun, “What do you think will happen to us when we return tonight?”

“Nothing. We will be okay if we can return before the soldiers wake up.” Sehun sat down next to him. It began to set in that they had a couple hours to go wherever they wanted. Baekhyun looked outward at the land and watched the trees lightly blowing in the wind. The grass looked sleek. The distant, dark. It all looked peaceful, lovely to him. He knew he wouldn’t be able to sit here quite like this, ever again.

When he looked over at Sehun, Sehun was tossing his empty pint. It flung to the grass and hit with a light thud. Then Sehun was looking at him again. As Baekhyun stared into his eyes, he felt himself feeling less tense, but they weren’t speaking to each other, just staring, so Baekhyun cleared his throat and decided to say something. To be clear that this wasn’t going to change anything between them. “I’m not sorry about destroying your book,” Baekhyun told him.

“It was an old book,” Sehun replied, “You have a temper inside you, it was bound to happen.”

Baekhyun turned his eyes, “Better be careful then.”

“I’m beginning to think you really believe you can take me on during a fight.” Sehun laughed.

“Are you asking me to look for you intentionally?”

Sehun scoffed, lips pulling with an impish tilt, “I think you already do, but for different purposes.” Baekhyun looked away with a laugh. Sehun’s attitude was aggravating, but not nearly as aggravating as his feelings were being. His body was oddly drawn to the man next to him, receiving shivers just by the way Sehun spoke to him here on this night.

When Baekhyun brought his gaze back over, sipping from his beer, Sehun was sitting forward with an elbow on his knee. He wore a smug smile, waiting for Baekhyun to dispute with him. “Don’t stare at me all night. If you want to fight me so bad, then okay, we’ll fight. You say the king wanted you anyway, which I doubt, but if he had wanted you, he’ll soon learn he made a wasteful decision.”

“You make it seem like a game.” Sehun’s smile dropped, “People die, Baekhyun.”

“It is a game. Whether you win or lose is entirely up to you.” Baekhyun looked down at him, showing little remorse for his actions, “And if you think I’ll keep my promise toward your…lover after you’re gone, then it would be very foolish of you to believe.”

Sehun sat up. “Do you gamble?”

Baekhyun wrinkled his brows. Pausing, “What?”

“Let’s do a bit of gambling. Say, If I can get more than one hit in with you, then you’ll have to kiss my hand.”

“You’re dumb if you think I’d ever do that.” Baekhyun laughed as he sat back on his hands and stretched his legs out over the path, though as he returned his gaze, his eyes were drawn to Sehun’s lips. He was a tad enticed by how confident Sehun was, and they could kiss on this path, if they wanted to do it. No one would know about it.

“Hit me more than once and I will get you anything you want. Like the last.” Sehun laid himself back on the ground with a soft smile at his lips.

Baekhyun rolled his eyes as he looked over at him, yet he believed Sehun could, somehow, get him what he wanted. Sehun seemed to be good at taking things, and If he agreed, it could be his opportunity to try a different kind of cake. Lush layers of vanilla beans, creamy chocolates and dark flavors, or maybe even pies. The pumpkins crushed and baked under sweet crust pies, apples peeled and baked pies, peached slices and baked pies. Sweet juicy berries. Large purply grapes. Tangerines and cheeses of all kinds. It was a heavenly tasteful thought, but if he agreed to this little bet, there was a large negative to it. He would have to kiss Sehun’s hand, and he had a feeling Sehun would force him to do this time around.

Baekhyun doubted how long he could get away with not keeping his word and sighed deeply throughout his nose, nostrils flaring and all, “Fine. No problem.”

Sehun turned his head at him and smiled, “Big mistake.”

Baekhyun sighed harder, more annoyed, and turned to look the other way, “Don’t say anything else to me.” And he didn’t. They stayed quiet and watched several choughs fly from one branch to another. Stared at the moon until they could see a slight change happening in the sky. The earliest sign of dawn. Dark transforming to a deep blue. Baekhyun and Sehun stood up and knew they had to return then, and as they walked back through the town, they noticed the people were gone. There were only shop signs left swinging in the wind.

Baekhyun’s heart didn’t rest until they were safely returned. Once they were in the room, Sehun tossed the keys on the ground outside their chambers and they entered their own to make it seem like it had been dropped and unnoticed.

Baekhyun went to his bed but didn’t lay down right away. He saw Sehun looking at him as he began taking off his shoes. Sehun was sitting at the edge of his bed and removing his shoes also, then smiled like it was his way to say good night. Baekhyun felt himself trying not to smile back, yet a faint one lifted his lips despite of his efforts to stop it. They laid back in their own beds, one last glimpse of each other as their heads hit the mattress.

Baekhyun got under his cover and tried his best not to think of Sehun, but It proved to be difficult, and he ended up thinking about him heavily. He failed so miserably that he dreamt of Sehun, and his body felt more from the dream than his heart did, causing his hand to pleasure himself as he slept. By the next day, when Baekhyun opened his eyes to see the light, his feelings of hatred had been ruined. He knew he was attracted to Sehun, and all the spite towards him had shriveled away after last night’s dream. One that he hadn’t entirely been dissatisfied about having. It had felt real, very real, every touch, but he knew it would be an issue to really want it. It would ruin his train of thought to prepare for the next fight. Still, once he sat up and saw Sehun across the room, he felt an urge. He wanted to be in Sehun’s bed. He wanted to climb up through those sheets and swallow Sehun whole in his mouth.

A bang at the cell bars caused Baekhyun to jump. It was a guard, and he had noticed Baekhyun had been intensely staring across the room as he had approached the door. Baekhyun quickly rolled over on his side and hid his face to pretend he was going back to sleep. Bothered by those pestering feelings of attraction. 

 

 

He was as silent as he could be. Hidden next to a slanted area of jagged rocks and trees, and a small slope that led to a ditch of leaves. He could see a lot from this position and had witnessed already Chanyeol, empty handed, chased by the stones being picked up and thrown at him by Jongin and Kris. Baekhyun thought about moving after a while, his hind legs swore from being bent, crouched, but he knew Sehun was around somewhere, and he was waiting for the perfect opportunity to see him.

After several minutes Baekhyun heard someone screaming, then saw an arrow shoot by from bellow. it zipped toward a tree and got stuck in the bark. His legs started to be his weakness, the longer he stayed hidden in one position. Baekhyun looked around the area before deciding to move, and at the moment he stood up, handle of a chipped blade in his hand, he was lunged at by Sehun.

Baekhyun didn’t shout, but he lost his breath as Sehun knocked him forward and to the edge of the area, he almost fumbled over but caught his balance quickly. Another push and Baekhyun would have went tumbling into the ditch. Sehun didn’t keep pushing. He took a few steps back, luring Baekhyun to come after him with a smile, and once Baekhyun turned around and saw that smug face, he ran straight after him, gripping his weapon tighter.

Sehun dashed off, fast legs, quick moves, dodging thick trees and hopping over logs, and branches. All the hindrances that could cause them to have a painful stumble. Baekhyun caught up to Sehun between a group of trees, but once he was close enough to grab hold of him, his first reaction wasn’t to hurt him. Instead, Baekhyun snatched hold of Sehun’s arm and whirled him around, pointing the tip of the blade at his face just to prove a point. That he’d caught him.

“Empty handed again?” Baekhyun asked with a grin. Sehun brought up both his hands as he backtracked into the trunk of a large tree. It shaded over them keeping them unseen from others.“I know we agreed on blows, but what do I get if I stab you?” Baekhyun chuckled, “Make it something nice.” He got closer, almost poking the tip at Sehun’s chin, then pointing it at his chest. He lingered with it there, and before he could say another word, Sehun grabbed him and spun him around.

Baekhyun’s back was pressed to Sehun’s front, arm locked around his own neck as Sehun held him by his wrist. Baekhyun struggled, truly surprised that he hadn’t seen it coming, and he tried to push forward to get away. Sehun fumbled slightly with him, though he still had a good grip, and with his other hand, he pushed the blade right out of Baekhyun’s grasp. It fell to the ground and camouflaged with brown leaves.

Baekhyun wasn’t just going to give up easily. He kept pushing himself forward, though it only took a moment before he knew it wasn’t doing much to get him free, so he changed motions and started pushing his body backward and up against Sehun. His bottom pressed and lifted repeatedly from off Sehun’s groin.

Baekhyun’s rhythmic strategy caused Sehun to laugh, “I’m starting to think you’re doing this on purpose.” Baekhyun wiggled and pushed, and after a few minutes Sehun couldn’t take it anymore and loosened his hold. At the opportunity to break free, Baekhyun shot forward. Sehun hadn’t yet let go completely, and Baekhyun felt himself twirling outward, hands connected and outstretched after they came to a standstill. Baekhyun looked at their position, taken aback. It appeared like they were about to have a waltz together.

Sehun looked rather amused as Baekhyun yanked his arm free, he then looked down by Sehun’s boots, a couple feet away from where he stood was the blade. Sehun looked over and noticed it too. They jumped for it at the same time, shoulders knocking into each other as they tried to claim it. Sehun gained the advantage by shoving Baekhyun aside with a force. Baekhyun fell on his back, his elbows catching most of his fall, then he was contemplating his next move within seconds, and charging at Sehun, trying his best to pry the weapon from his hands. They went around in a circle, tugging with both hands at the blade and handle until Sehun enclosed his own too tightly around it, and Baekhyun pulled.

The sharp blade slid through and out of Sehun’s grasp quickly, leaving a bloody trail, and he withdrew in a wince of pain. Baekhyun paused with a light gasp once he saw blood. He was distracted. Sehun sprung forward and tackled him to the ground. They hit it hard, a breath knocked from Baekhyun’s chest, and they became filthy as they began to wrestle for dominance. After a short struggle, Sehun managed to pin Baekhyun on his back. He kept him there by holding his wrist at either side of his body, tight and forceful. Then Sehun hovered over Baekhyun, trying to catch his breath. He could feel his nails in the dirt, his heart on a rampage.

“The moment you let me go, I’m going to stab you. I’ll cut your throat,” Baekhyun claimed with a scorn, then he felt something tickling down his wrist. He turned his head and saw Sehun’s blood was smudging and getting on him. There was quite a lot. His struggling came to a halt and he slowly brought his eyes back up to Sehun’s face. “Look at what you’ve done to yourself. Who taught you to grab by the heel and edge?”

“You were holding onto the scales and spine and yanked it out from under my hand!”

“Idiot.”

Sehun let Baekhyun struggle some more. Baekhyun shifted his hips from side to side, wiggled on the ground for a while and then completely gave up. Once he stopped, Sehun got up and Baekhyun watched with horror as Sehun turned and flung the blade into the far away distance. Baekhyun stood up quickly, “Why did you do that!” He tried to see how far it had gone, but there was no way to tell for sure. He turned to face Sehun with a piercing gaze, “Now I have no weapon to defend myself. I’ll have to hide before someone finds me.”

Sehun faced him, glowing with a smile, “Could always hide behind me.” He was dirty. Leaves in his hair.

“Wipe that off your face. You didn’t get not one hit on me. Neither one of us did.”

“But you had a chance and you chickened out.”

“I did not!” Baekhyun was hot enough without the sun, because all the running, puffing, and anger made the cold seem powerless.

Sehun started to step away from him, about to turn and run off, “Be any louder and others will definitely find you.”

Baekhyun noticed how Sehun was easing away and he moved toward him, “Where do you think you’re about to run off to? Fight me with your hands!”

One more smile, and Sehun turned away completely, then dashed off into the other part of the woods. Baekhyun took a few steps about to follow him, but he stopped himself from going. He shouldn’t be putting so much energy into playing around with Sehun, he needed to focus on finding his weapon again, and finding someone quick before It was too late.

 

 

There wasn’t an extravagant victory for anyone; however, Chanyeol had been injured badly, and Kris was not found during the search after the fight. Chanyeol told everyone at the table that it wasn’t him who had fought Kris. Baekhyun became the main target to blame because of what had happened to the others over the past several weeks. They turned on him, everyone assuming he had something to do with the recent lost, but Baekhyun swore he hadn’t seen Kris for long, had seen only a glimpse of him running while he had been hiding.

Kyungsoo and Chanyeol refused to believe him. “That’s just an excuse,” Chanyeol started, “Everyone knows you did it.”

Baekhyun looked around at all the accusing eyes before his landed on Sehun, who had gotten up seconds before to go and sit at the end of the table with Yixing and comfort him. Baekhyun’s gaze lowered and he began to glower at them, “If it was me, I would be eating much better than this, and I wouldn’t need to lie about it.” He turned his eyes away from Yixing and Sehun, furiously, and stared back and forth between Chanyeol and Kyungsoo, “All I know is that It wasn’t me, and I know it wasn’t Sehun because when I ran into Sehun during the fight, he had no weapon. The guards can’t find Kris’s body, and no one is confessing to it, thus he probably fell.”

Chanyeol looked at Sehun and was confused, “Why did you have no weapon?”

Sehun quietly responded, “I had some stones, but I dropped them.”

They fell quiet then, and the sunken mood kept the food from tasting any better than it looked. Since the soldiers claimed the King was not pleased by the lack of evidence found of Kris’s missing, he allowed them to eat, but told the kitchen to serve them cold soup with bread. Once dinner came to an end, one pair after the other left. Sehun and Yixing exchanged a few words before Yixing and Jongin was forced to part with everyone.

Baekhyun couldn’t help his jealousy, and as soon as they got back in their chambers, alone, he turned and glared at Sehun through the bars. “I thought you said Yixing wasn’t your lover anymore.”

Sehun, confused by the sudden reaction, stood from where he was about to lie down, and he slowly walked over, “Are you trying to ask me about what we were talking about tonight?” Baekhyun stayed quiet, putting his hands up to grab hold of the steel. Sehun sighed. He grabbed hold of the bars, too, and stared at Baekhyun through the gaps. There was silence, candle fires frizzling, a droplet of water falling somewhere from the cracks in the walls. “Yixing told me he saw Kris by the ledge of the cliff.” Sehun paused, but Baekhyun said nothing, so he continued. His whispers were louder due to the dead of night, it was quiet enough to hear the them bouncing off the walls if someone was to listen hard enough to him speak. “Yixing said that they were fighting and then Kris slipped and fell. He tried to grab him, he said that, but he wasn’t quick enough. I was only comforting him because he’s never harmed anyone before. He has never been forced to fight, not before we were captured. All of this is frightening to him. To both of us.”

Baekhyun felt only a slight pang of regret. He wanted to ask what Yixing had done before as a voyager, but something about Sehun’s story rang strange to him. “Then if it was only an accident, why doesn’t he tell the guards? Maybe they can go and find him at the bottom of the cliff.”

Sehun laughed solemnly, “There’s no point in telling. The boys here can be vicious. They won’t believe it was an accident.”

“Then is it better to let them accuse me instead?” Baekhyun spited, holding tighter to his cell, “Why didn’t you speak up for me?”

“Because I didn’t know what to say!” Sehun turned away and pressed his back to the cage, “And what difference does it make? you’ve killed before, you’re the only one taking pride out of it. Everyone knows you can handle the accusations.”

“I don’t want to be blamed for something I haven’t done.” Baekhyun stepped back, feeling angrier than he thought he should be, “But I guess that doesn’t matter to you, does it?”

Sehun looked over and saw Baekhyun’s glare had shifted. He looked hurt in a strange way, it was an expression guarded under another unreadable one. “I’m sorry, Baekhyun.” Sehun told him, “I’ll talk to him as soon as I can, and I will make things right.”

“It’s not that serious.” Baekhyun turned and walked back to his bed, “We don’t get punished for missing bodies. The others will just be upset. They won’t talk to me, but that wouldn’t be very different than how we treat each other anyway.”

“I understand. Then, I’m asking you, what would you like for me to do?”

Baekhyun looked over and saw Sehun watching him with a sincere expression. Right as he looked into his eyes, Baekhyun wanted to apologize for how he was acting. For being unreasonably curt with him. Sehun was hard to keep away from. To keep from talking with him was difficult. Baekhyun could try to not think about him all day, but his body wanted him, and now his heart was starting to feel unnerving feelings. Sehun’s kind words, kind eyes, it was making him woozy, opening him up in a way that made him want to keep talking with Sehun for the rest of the night. They hadn’t been gentle with each other during the fight, but there was something about running into Sehun that gave Baekhyun a sense of protection. He had known, even as he had hidden and waited to spot him, Baekhyun had known he wouldn’t have been hit, regardless of chasing after Sehun. It seemed like Sehun had no real intention of fighting at all, yet still, Baekhyun wasn’t entirely sure.

“I want you to take me to town tomorrow and show me around,” Baekhyun replied, then refused himself of saying anything else.

Sehun nodded, “That’s not what I had in mind, but alright. To make it up to you, I’ll do it.”

 

 

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**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :) I don't know if this is good but it's fun to write! Have fun reading!


	4. Chapter 4

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* * *

 

The morning rays appeared vaguely through the window in the wall. Baekhyun woke up early just to stare at the rising sunlight behind fogged glass, wishing he could witness it outside and in the cold. Normally, he would stay in bed until the door was unlocked, but today he didn’t want to sulk under the cover or try to sleep any longer than he already had. He wanted to talk to Sehun and make plans about going to town as they had agreed to doing the other night, but there was one small problem. Today was bath day, so he wanted to ask Sehun how long they should stay in town. Baekhyun didn’t want to pass up a day of washing himself, but he was also excited about exploring things during the day.

When he sat up, he expected to see the top of Sehun’s head. To see him still sleeping. But Sehun was awake, and he was lying with his legs propped up against the wall, and he averted his attention to across the room as he heard Baekhyun's movement.

“How long have you been awake?” Baekhyun asked.

Sehun pulled himself up and faced Baekhyun’s direction, folding his legs as he sat straight, “For a while. You know, I’m starting to reconsider what I said. I wish you hadn’t torn up that book, now I have to steal another one.” He smiled a little, and Baekhyun was glad they wouldn’t be talking about Yixing and Kris again.

“They probably know your face by now,” Baekhyun replied easily.

“There’s more than one book shop.”

Baekhyun fell quiet as he turned to go back to bed. He sat down, and they stared at each other from across the breadth. “It’s bath day,” He explained, “We only have two hours as you know. Do you think we can see the town and still make it possible to come back on time to have a wash?”

“Sure. Just have to run there and back. There’s also a town clock, so we should keep check of it. Spend one hour in town and then one hour in the bathhouse.”

It was settled. It seemed practical, so Baekhyun nodded in agreement. Usually, they hardly spoke to each other, even when they were awake in their chambers, mostly because Baekhyun hadn’t wanted to get to know Sehun, but now that they were planning to do something together, it felt awkward to fall back into a silence with him.

Baekhyun looked away for only a moment and tried to think of anything else to ask Sehun; however, it was hard to decide on what he wanted to say, he wasn’t good at getting to know a person, and he didn’t know how to make Sehun keep talking either. He looked over again, and Sehun still hadn’t turned his gaze and after a while, Sehun began to smile. It looked nicer to Baekhyun during the daylight, it could be seen much clearer.

Once more, Baekhyun looked off to the side as he felt his body grow warmer. It felt like he was longing for Sehun. Wanting to be near him. He shifted around on his bed and tried to ignore it, then he watched the window for the next several hours.

Midday slipped into the hours of their morning, and at a little passed noon, they heard a soldier coming down to the corner of the hall. They stood up at the same time, eager to make a break away for town.

The soldier saw Baekhyun first and stared at him curiously, he’d never seen him so anxious to leave his chamber before. And once the door came unlocked, Baekhyun was quickly stepping out and waiting by Sehun’s, for Sehun to be freed next.

The guard noticed this behavior and continued to eye Baekhyun suspiciously, pausing with his hand on the keys at Sehun’s chamber. “You two better not be up to anything foolish.” He snarled, then turned his eyes to glare harder at Sehun, “ _Especially_ , from you.”

Sehun didn’t respond to him, then the door opened, and he stepped out. They both followed the soldier around the corner and up the hall to the exit. Once the room door opened, the soldier stepped out first and moved aside to let them pass. Baekhyun and Sehun quickly moved and sped down the corridor to get to their destination faster.

They heard many voices once they turned another corner, and then they saw the rest of the boys being lined up behind a soldier and about to be walked to the bathhouse. Some of the boys noticed Sehun and Baekhyun not coming to join them, but they didn’t speak up, and Sehun and Baekhyun didn’t stop to talk or explain where they were going.

Once they got outside, they had a couple more run-ins with other soldiers, each one asking them why they weren’t going to the bathhouse. Baekhyun simply told them that he and Sehun wanted to go sparring.

As they finally made it across the bridge to town, they knew then they didn’t have to race and save time anymore. Miraculously, they reached town in under ten minutes, and Baekhyun looked around at the nearly deserted place with awe. Sehun had been right. The town was quieter and more peaceful in the day, even though there were still a handful of shops open, and vegetable carts on the road, it wasn’t overly lively.

The taverns were all closed at this hour, but the bakeries and book shops were all open for business. There weren’t many things to see in the town. There was nothing extraordinary about it, but it was the simple fact of feeling like he wasn’t a prisoner that made Baekhyun feel better. Happier.

Sehun turned to face him after they had walked around for a while, and they stood together offside the road, “So, where do you want to go? This land is ours.”

Baekhyun smiled lightly, feeing warmth in his cheeks, “It’s cold. Is there any place we can go to be by a fire?”

“Unfortunately, not. There are inns, but we need money to get a room. Some taverns have a chimney, but they’re doors are closed right now. We could always go to the shops and look around though. The shops are a lot warmer than standing outside.”

“Let’s do that, then,” Baekhyun replied with a nod. Sehun turned forward and Baekhyun walked with him to find a shop they could sit inside and not have to pay for anything. After walking around for a bit, they came across an open back-entrance to a shop which appeared abandoned. Sehun looked at Baekhyun and was about to ask him if he wanted to snoop around for a bit, but Baekhyun was already moving to go inside.

The shop was dusty, and the ground was slightly white, ashy from all the uncleanness. There were tables, lots of broken wood, and a bar. Behind it a shelf with open glass doors. Shelves holding bottles and some broken pints. A few of them cracked, a few still in fine condition. Sehun sighed as he looked around, “It’s just an old building.” 

There was a second floor visible, small wooden pillars keeping up the roof. Baekhyun found a seat and sat down, “What do you think happened?”

“Maybe ran out of business.” Sehun turned and walked over to where Baekhyun was sitting and he sat down in the chair next to him.

It surprised Baekhyun by how close Sehun chose to be, and he scooted his chair away from him, slightly, responding sternly, “Don’t get comfy with me, Sehun. Out here we may talk with each other, but during the fight no feelings will be involved.”

Sehun leaned forward, drawing in closer to him, “Are you saying outside the fight that your feelings are involved?”

“You’re mixing my words up.”

Sehun laughed. “You said during the fight no feelings are involved. Which then means…” Baekhyun kicked a foot out and hit the leg of Sehun’s chair, startling him, but also making him laugh again.

“Stop laughing,” Baekhyun replied tightly, “I didn’t ask you to bring me to town so that you could charm me and laugh the whole time. I’d like to just sit here.”

“What’s fun about sitting around? we should do something.” Sehun got up and walked to the bar. He got around to the other side and grabbed an old rag, picked up an empty half-broken glass and started to pretend he was working.

Baekhyun couldn’t help but to scoff, reluctantly amused by him, “What are you doing?”

“I’m working, would you like a drink?”

Baekhyun walked over to the bar and sat down on one of the stools, “You’re an idiot.”

Sehun’s hand stopped moving inside the cracked glass, pausing with a smile, “Would you like rum or something sweeter?”

Confused by Sehun’s childish antics, and yet also quite intrigued, Baekhyun could only laugh. He’d never played pretend before, and it was even stranger to see Sehun doing it. Part of him wanted to tell Sehun something dark to remind him of their reality. He decided not to and started looking around as Sehun went back to pretending to clean. He looked at the dusty old chairs and the tables falling apart. He looked at the aging wood of the floor, at the vacantness of everything around him. Then looked back at Sehun, at the broken glass he was consistently trying to remove a stain from with a filthy rag. He watched him for just another moment before tapping a finger on the counter to get his attention, “No rum, I’ll take a drink with lots of sugar in it.”

Sehun grinned, “A lover of sweet things.” he put the glass down and turned his back to Baekhyun. He began moving things around, opened and closed the shelf, pretending to find things and mix things before he returned to Baekhyun with a different cup. One with a chipped corner.

Baekhyun looked down inside it once it was set before him and laughed, “I am, thank you.” Sehun stared attentively at him and started to look upset that Baekhyun wasn't even attempting to act like he would drink thin air. Baekhyun noticed and shook his head, telling Sehun there was no way he was putting his lips on some dirty old china.

“Alright, fine.” Sehun huffed. He put down the rag then rested forward on the counter with his elbows holding him up. Baekhyun stayed still. Sehun inched closer, then stopped. He was quiet for a moment, staring at Baekhyun like he was trying to figure him out. “Has anyone ever talk to you about where you came from?”

“I assume I was born here in town, just like the other boys. Just taken from a family.” 

“Do you think your parents are still alive?”

“I honestly don’t know. I can’t imagine ever meeting them or looking for them here. I don’t really want to find them either, because I wouldn’t know what to say. They haven’t ever come to look for me, maybe they also don’t know what to say. They must know that I’m capable of seeing them, It could be that they might not want to see me.”

“Do you think it’s possible…that maybe they’re..”

Baekhyun stared, swallowing thickly. He felt a rush of sadness come over him. He didn’t want to think about his parents being dead. It was a possibility, he knew that, and it would explain why he’s never heard from them. But Baekhyun didn’t know if he wanted to find out. He’d made it this far not caring about these types of things, yet now that Sehun was bringing up all these new emotions for him, it had him feeling abandoned. Like he’d might have been given away or thrown away.

There were many doors to Baekhyun’s past, all of them closed and locked. The only person that could answer much of anything about him was the king, and the maidens that had helped raise him, but all those women who had cared for him as a child were now gone. Baekhyun had nothing to hold onto about his childhood. He could only remember the inside of his chamber. The chambers and long hallways, and how the palace looked from standing in the field. Soldiers. Blood. The woods. Crows. Rain. And thinking of these things caused Baekhyun to fall, dip deeply into his thoughts. Sehun chose to stay quiet for a while to let him think about whatever it was on his mind. Though after a few minutes, he noticed moisture collecting at the corner of Baekhyun’s eyes.

“Baekhyun, hey..” Sehun brought the back of his hand up and slid a finger through the wetness that had made a line down Baekhyun’s face.

Baekhyun came back from his thoughts just by the feeling of a finger brushing over his cheek, and he stared at him, without hostility, without telling him not to touch. This gesture alone led Baekhyun to feel like the only thing he could do was to admit he was hurt.

“I don’t like feeling like this, like there’s missing pieces in my past that I can’t connect,” Baekhyun spoke softly, yet unsteady.

Sehun put his hand on Baekhyun’s arm and gave it a light bit of pressure, “Would you feel better if you had a nice bathe?”

Baekhyun rubbed his eyes dry and nodded, “We should start heading back.”

Sehun pulled off the counter and Baekhyun got up. They left the shop and took their time getting back, and while walking they saw on the town’s clock that they had spent an hour and a half just sitting around in that deserted bar. Baekhyun didn’t think it felt that long at all. But once they realized that there was only a little bit of time left to return, they started running, and they didn’t stop until they entered the palace, panting.

A soldier noticed them and asked them where they’d gone. Baekhyun reminded him that they’d been out training for the next fight. The soldier didn’t bother them again, merely reminding them to stay nearby, for their two hours was coming to an end soon.

The thought of returning to the chamber felt like a suffocating sentence after being in town and under the sun, even if it was cold, and even if they had spent most of their time in an old bar, it had still been nice. The fact that he had that choice to sit there and pretend to drink, while Sehun pretended to tend to the bar, it had felt so normal.

When they entered the bathhouse, they were surprised to see it empty. Sehun brought the door behind them closed, quietly, then looked at Baekhyun, “They must have already finished. Must be outside.”  

“Guess so.”

Sehun started to remove his clothes and Baekhyun turned the other way as he started removing his own. He hadn’t ever anticipated being alone with Sehun in the bathhouse, and normally he’d know for sure nothing would happen between them, but right now he felt aware of himself and of his own attraction toward Sehun, and even with his back turned, he thought he could feel Sehun’s eyes skimming down his back, down the curves of his body and looking at everything he wanted to look at.

The last piece of clothing dropped to Baekhyun’s feet, and he stood there briefly before he looked over and saw that Sehun had just finished undressing also. They paused, staring at each other, then looked away and began walking to a bath. They could have chosen to bathe in separate baths, but they walked over to get into the same one. Sehun got in from one side and Baekhyun eased himself into the water from the other.

“This is much better than that old bar,” Baekhyun sighed, “Warmer.” He fully immersed his body up to his neckline, then put his head back to rest a moment.

Several minutes later he heard water moving around, while no reply from Sehun. Baekhyun brought his head up and saw that Sehun was washing his face, scrubbing it gently with his hands, then afterwards he dipped under the hot water completely, and as he came back up he pushed all his hair back and rubbed at his eyes to remove any droplets before he settled down.

The movement in the water stilled. “Do you want to play a game?” Sehun asked with a small smile.

Baekhyun shrugged, “Doesn’t matter.”

“Let’s see who can hold their breath the longest.” 

There it was, that playfulness of Sehun again. A sweet, sugary innocence. Sehun knew, very well as everyone else did, what went on in the palace. Even after being captured. Even after having the boats he came in on burned and some of his people killed, Sehun was grasping onto his humanity good. Grasping onto who he was. He hadn’t come here and died the first, second, or third night. He was confident, humorous, and beautiful, and strong, and Baekhyun was feeling more drawn to it by each passing second.

And still, Baekhyun knew these feelings were dangerous. He had to refuse them with everything he had before they got out of hand. “No. I want to bathe.”

“But you’re just sitting there.” Sehun partly laughed and moved toward Baekhyun slightly.

Baekhyun straightened up, too aware of their insufficient space, “Stay where you are.”

“What if I don’t want to?” As Baekhyun began glaring at him, Sehun hit the water with his hand.

Water splashed up and smacked Baekhyun in his face, causing him to gasp, “Why did you just do that!” His voice ringing in the room.

Sehun hit the water again and Baekhyun quickly turned his head to avoid getting hit a second time. “Do something about it,” Sehun tempted, easing nearer.

Baekhyun moved to a different side of the bath but there wasn’t anywhere he could really go. He moved around from one side to another as Sehun wouldn’t stop following him, so finally Baekhyun retaliated, and he hit the water to splash at Sehun’s face. It worked and stopped him for a second, but all too quickly did Sehun smack the water back at him harder. It triggered a bit of a game without Baekhyun noticing, and they went on like this for the next several minutes, hitting the water and getting it everywhere.

All the splashing came to an end once Sehun managed to get around to Baekhyun’s backside and pushed his head under the water. Baekhyun went down easy, then came back up seconds later with a sharp breath, rubbing water from his eyes with one hand and trying to create more destruction with another. After Sehun got him twice, they stopped splashing and tried to drown each other instead.

Tsunamis arose with their movement as they got carried away, chasing each other around and around. It only came to an end after Baekhyun’s last attempt to dunk Sehun. Sehun put his hands up and surrendered, barely capable of seeing with all the water dripping down his hair and into his eyes.

Baekhyun laughed at him, out of breath, "Good choice.” 

They returned to their previous spots on opposite sides of the bath, loud breaths as they tried calming down. But they couldn’t return to the quiet. They couldn’t stop that yearning desire that was surging between them whenever their eyes met, and now after having their hands on slippery bodies and messing around, Baekhyun felt himself bothered by arousal in a way he’d never felt, and Sehun wasn’t just looking at him anymore. He was fucking him with his eyes.

Their breathing slowed. The water became still once again. They were staring, motionless, until staring was no longer enough. It was Sehun who moved in the water first, lethargically, and then stopped once he was close. He wasn’t cautious as he brought his hands up and put them around Baekhyun’s body. And he stayed there, in Baekhyun’s eyes. Once they were this close, they were unable to stop themselves. Sehun pushed against him, pressing their bodies together.

Held at the wall, Baekhyun brought his legs up, and wrapped them around Sehun's hips. His knees partially appearing from the water. 

Their mouths found each other, hungry for a taste and needy, and as Sehun started to grind into him, there was a small pain in Baekhyun’s lower back, a scratching from the stone he was against. He ignored it when he could feel Sehun’s length, bare and growing hard, pushing and pressing to his own, and his head rolled back, parting their lips.

Sehun moved his mouth down Baekhyun’s neck, then back up and kissed along his jaw line. From the way he was being touched, Baekhyun felt himself shaking. Shaky from the pleasure of having another mouth on his body, hands holding him. He tightened his grip on Sehun and sunk his nails into the muscle of his shoulders and back. Sehun wasn’t slow or hesitant, thrusting and rubbing their bodies together to increase pleasure and causing a warm friction.

Baekhyun heard his own breath hitching, but he allowed himself to be overtaken by his wants, he let his body be pressed hard against the wall. To melt into Sehun, and listen to the breathing at his ear.

Before long, Baekhyun felt a tightening inside him, something squeezing him, something deep on the inside of his stomach. It felt like a building pressure, like there was gravity trying to hold something down inside him. And with each thrust of Sehun’s hips against him, each time he felt the thickness of Sehun’s length slipping over his own and pushing forward for relief, the pressure got tighter. He knew what it was, the same thing he’d gotten from that dream. Baekhyun wanted to go further, to relish in the feeling longer, to have Sehun keep him like this, but he knew he wasn’t going to last. Not for much longer.

They kept grinding into each other, holding onto arms, shoulders, and backs. Then Baekhyun broke, the building pressure was out, and his head dropped and hung back as it overwhelmed him. He felt no control of himself as he cried out. His moans filled the room as a rush and a release drained him. Sehun felt Baekhyun become soft but he didn’t stop moving, and Baekhyun kept his legs around him as he was grinding up and down with more force, burning to feel the same pleasure Baekhyun had, and after a few more speedy thrusts, Sehun came.

Baekhyun savored the sound of Sehun’s breath releasing next to his ear, then movements came to a slowed pace, before it all finally stopped.

Sehun drew back. Under the water was a trail of their mixing fluids. His hands stayed at Baekhyun’s waist, but his eyes were slightly wider, like he hadn’t expected them to go that far. Baekhyun was equally petrified, he had no idea how to explain his own actions, and before they had any time to question it, they heard the doors coming open.

Sehun quickly moved away from Baekhyun as he saw that it was a soldier. The soldier witnessed Sehun moving backward hastily, and he paused to stare, taking a look around the room and noticing that there was no one else in the bathhouse, that it was only them alone together. The soldier suspected something had happened between them, he could tell the mood was odd. Off. With a sternness, he commanded they get out of the bath and get dressed. Their free time was over.

 

 

 

It started to rain after several hours. It was a gentle rain. With the covers pulled snug over his head, Baekhyun was in his bed hiding from himself and from Sehun. He didn’t want to talk about what happened, and Sehun hadn’t said a word since they were escorted back to their chambers. It was better not to talk about it, Baekhyun thought. It was too soon.

 

 

 

The sky had paled, and the temperature mixing with the rain in the night shifted it into light ice, which eventually, was turned into snow. Snowflakes fell toward the land in small thin specks. Baekhyun felt the familiar brutal cold as he opened his eyes, his body shaking uncontrollably. The winter was settled, alas, and it was the hardest time of the year. The most difficult to survive through. They weren’t moved or better fed. Nothing changed, except the cold.

Baekhyun lifted himself, still with his hands gripping the covers around him as he sat up and looked across the room. He saw a lump of Sehun as a shivering body, then got up feeling colder as he walked to the cell bars and called his name.

Sehun looked up, bringing his head off the mattress sleepily.

“It’s snowing,” Baekhyun told him, “..and we have a fight today.”

Sehun looked confused, rising completely in his bed to see him, “We have to fight even during this weather?”

“Yes.” Baekhyun held the cover to his body tighter, but the cold wasn’t kept out, so he shivered standing there, “The king will have us fight through any weather.”

Sehun looked toward the window of Baekhyun’s chamber. He saw that clumped snow had covered it and he began to worry about their safety, “It’ll be too cold to fight.”

“I’ve fought in the snow before. Most of us here have. The only thing that changes is the frustration of having to move around in it.”

Sehun got up and grabbed his cover, he thought it would be a good idea to keep himself wrapped up like Baekhyun was as he went to stand by the bars. “I don’t know when I’ll get to say this again, but be careful, Baekhyun. It will be easy to fall ill under these conditions.”

Baekhyun nodded, then he thought back to the last time they stared at each other this long and what it had led to. He turned his gaze down, feeling his body react to the memories. “I’ll be okay. Just take care of yourself.”

“I have an idea,” Sehun answered lowly, “The king rewards us if we get beat up pretty bad, so I’m thinking we should get everyone together and make it seem like we were all having some kind of brawl.”

“What do you mean?”

“We should talk with everyone when we get to the woods, and we should just rough each other up. If we sacrifice our bodies for a few bruises and scratches, the king won’t know, and we’ll be fed accordingly, right?”

Baekhyun thought about it for a moment. Sehun was making sense, but he doubted the other boys would want to be in on it. “I don’t know about Chanyeol or Kyungsoo.”

“I’ll do the talking. There’s no reason for anyone to turn down the plan. It’s solid. A win win for all of us. We won’t have to end up under the snow.”

Baekhyun turned away, shaking his head, “I don’t know if it’s a good idea.”

“Baekhyun, please. I don’t want to see you hurt. I don’t want to see anyone hurt. Let’s just try.”

Reluctantly, Baekhyun closed his eyes and took a breath before facing Sehun again, “Fine.” Then returning quickly to his bed, Baekhyun curled back into the covers. Sehun watched him for a few minutes before returning to his own bed and trying to stay warm.

Once a soldier came, Baekhyun and Sehun stood and got prepared to go out. The soldier led them out their room and down the hall to where all the boys were gathered together to be led out to the field.

The field had been brown only a couple nights ago, brown dying grass, now it was being covered with numerous flakes. There was snow everywhere, building up and turning everything white. The line came to a halt and Baekhyun watched the soldiers counting their heads and talking to each other. The towers were both empty where the King usually sat, and there were no weapons on the table.

Baekhyun waited for one of the soldiers to walk by before speaking up, “Where are our weapons?”

The guard stopped and looked down at him, answering stiffly, “The king has ordered us to get rid of them. They’re useless.”

The guard started to walk away- “Then what will we use?” Baekhyun quickly replied.

The guard turned around again, more annoyed by his pestering, “You, a lucky one, still have both arms and legs. Use those. And use what the woods provides you.” Another guard shouted at the boys to keep a straight line, then the same one turned to snarl at Baekhyun, “From you, no more questions. Straighten up.”

Baekhyun worriedly looked over at all the fighters and he saw Sehun staring outward. He hoped their plan would fall through. Once the trumpets blew, the boys looked around, merely confused by having nothing to run and grab. Before everyone took off toward the woods, the guards had to shout at them several times.

Into the shadowy, snowy woods they went, and Baekhyun caught up to Sehun quickly after keeping an eye on him. But before Baekhyun had the chance to ask Sehun how they were going to get everyone together, Sehun was already calling Chanyeol’s name. Chanyeol began speedily searching the ground for a weapon, out of concern for his defense once he noticed Sehun was approaching him, and with Baekhyun not far behind, he started stammering, fearful that he was about to be barraged, “I-I don’t have anything.”

Sehun put his hands up to show Chanyeol he was also empty handed and not looking for trouble, “Calm down, Chanyeol. I just want to talk to you.”

Chanyeol’s eyes darted at Baekhyun, he looked far less trustworthy, “Baekhyun is behind you,” Chanyeol warned quickly, “What are you two planning to do?”

“Nothing, Chanyeol,” Sehun answered, and he took another step forward before dropping his hands. Chanyeol didn’t appear convinced yet so Sehun added, “Baekhyun and I share the same room and we were talking about how everyone can come out on top during this fight if we all work together.”

Chanyeol looked at Baekhyun, suspiciously and nervous, “Baekhyun and you were actually talking?” he shook his head, disbelievingly, “No way, I don’t believe it.”

“We were,” Sehun replied, then he glanced over at Baekhyun. Baekhyun was prompted to tell Chanyeol that it was true before Sehun could continue, “So, we thought about roughing each other up and making it look like we were fending for our lives out here.”

Chanyeol’s defensive expression became softer, “What about the others?”

“Will you help us find everyone? They’ve already spread out.”

There was only a quick pause before Chanyeol was fully in on the plan and nodding rapidly. “I’ll help, I guess,” spoke Chanyeol to Sehun, “And If we can get Kyungsoo in on it, everyone else will follow ship. Kyungsoo is the only real threat besides Baekhyun.”

They started walking then, moving together in search for others. “Well, I’m not going to hurt anyone today, so relax,” Baekhyun replied.

They went deeper into the woods and could see a trail of boot prints after a while. Following it fast, they found Jongdae hiding behind a tree. Chanyeol jumped out at him and spooked him, and once Jongdae came out from his hiding, he saw Baekhyun and tried to run. Chanyeol and Sehun had to grab him and calm him down while explaining what they wanted to do. Jongdae had to hear a verbal promise from Baekhyun not to try anything fishy. Baekhyun swore on it, with a tight smile, but it irritated him that he had to keep promising people things.

Next, as they searched for Kyungsoo, they were looking up, too, up in the trees for him and behind nearly every bush. He could be anywhere. He was much more clever about staying out of sight, so Chanyeol had to start calling for him after they’d been walking for a while with no sign. Jongdae joined in on the bellowed calls after a short while, figuring Kyungsoo will be throwed off by all the voices calling for him, and he’d have to come out to find out what was going on.

Although there was no sign of him, moments later they ran into Xiumin and Jongin. Both had started to fight mere seconds before they were found. Baekhyun and Sehun pulled Jongin away from the scuffle, and Chanyeol and Jongdae handled Xiumin off to the side and tried to calm him down.

Once high spirits rested, Sehun told everyone about the plan. Jongin then admitted he knew where Kyungsoo was. They walked several feet and he pointed up at a tree. Kyungsoo was there ducking down and observing them. They all looked up at him then, and Kyungsoo had no choice but to jump down, but he had overheard everything and was having doubts about Baekhyun’s honest nature.

“I don’t trust Baekhyun’s word. He’s a dishonest one. Do any of you really think he’s not going to take this as his best chance to get as many of us as he can?” Kyungsoo turned and stared at him with hatred.

Baekhyun was about to step forward with a nasty retort, then Sehun stepped in between them and spoke up, “He’s already promised everyone else here that he won’t try anything, and look, he’s just standing here now. We all want the same thing, Kyungsoo. To live. Just this once, let’s not fight to kill.”

Everyone fell quiet as Sehun continued to explain, Baekhyun, too, listened while Sehun spoke about how to hit each other and where to hit on the body without causing major injuries. He was convincing the rest of the boys to agree to it and then made everyone swear to each other that they would only do enough visible damage for it to look real and nothing extreme that could cause internal injury or death.

It was easy to listen to Sehun, it was easy to follow his word. His voice was the humming wind, a beautiful sound to hear, and Baekhyun could see it in everyone’s eyes that they believed him. They had trust in him at this very moment just the way Baekhyun knew he did, too. Then with a last word, Sehun turned and looked at Baekhyun. Sehun’s eyes were filled with sorrow, as if asking for forgiveness. Baekhyun understood almost right away why he’d be staring at him with such a look of grief. Sehun knew Baekhyun would have to be hit and was apologizing beforehand for it, so Baekhyun gave him an assuring look that he would be okay.

Once everyone began to ready themselves, Sehun suddenly remembered someone else was missing. They were forgetting someone. Yixing. Sehun paused, glancing around. He wasn’t there.

Sehun took off running into the woods and everyone stood there, left behind, confused by how he’d suddenly run off. Baekhyun watched him go and did not bother to chase him because he already knew where Sehun was going. The group remained quiet until Sehun returned, and when he did, Yixing was trailing behind him.

Sehun and Yixing returned to the group together, and Baekhyun refused to look at either of them. He felt frustrated at himself for being so jealous, but he couldn’t make Sehun stop caring about Yixing, and he couldn’t erase what they had together. Baekhyun thought about his options, staying true to his word, or attacking Yixing right now, but he knew he’d be creating more trouble if he did. And Sehun would know that attacking Yixing would be from pure spite.

After a few minutes, Sehun asked if everyone was ready. Kyungsoo glanced at Baekhyun, nodding his head. Baekhyun looked at him and figured they would end up fighting for real if they went after each other, so he decided not to even think of Kyungsoo. He’d slap Chanyeol around for a few minutes instead.

There were no trumpets to start their brawl, and no one was quite sure how to begin. Jongdae stepped forward first. He walked up to Jongin and gave him a knee in the gut before stepping back quickly. No one did anything as Jongin winced over in pain and held his stomach. Jongin looked around at everyone’s stilled reaction. They all just stood there.

Kyungsoo then turned to Chanyeol next and pushed him. Chanyeol stumbled a little and then recoiled, pushing him back a bit harder. It started then, it was how they started, and after a couple more pushes, after Kyungsoo had knocked Chanyeol into Jongdae, who then kicked Chanyeol at his rear, the three of them began wrestling around.

Everyone started pushing, tackling, throwing twigs. Baekhyun bent down to scoop up some snow and threw it at Sehun. It was a powerless blow, and he really only did it to get Sehun’s attention. Sehun scooped up some snow too, after being snowballed in the face, and he threw a handful right back, right before he was pummeled to the ground by Chanyeol and piled on by two others.

It became more exciting and fun, rather than terrifying. They fought a little rougher, eventually, doing little things like throwing sticks and pebbles and shoving each other into things on the ground. It was mostly the slips and falls on the snow that caused Chanyeol to have a bruised, swollen cheek. Kyungsoo and injured ankle, and Baekhyun disheveled hair and a busted lip.

Not one of them left the woods, not even as it became darker. Not after the trumpets blew their horns. The cold had gotten harsher by the time the guards came and found them and they appeared to be fighting each other like the animals the King had wanted them to become. The guards had a short struggle pulling them apart and off each other, then they were laughing at the boys, the whole way back, across the field and into the palace, just laughing.

There was mud and snow on the ground tracking behind them all as the guards separated, according to rooms, and once Baekhyun was back inside his chamber, locked away with only Sehun to stare at, all tousled and cold, he smiled, excited about what the King will have to say.

The results of their fight were correctly predicted. Once the king learned there had been a ruthless clash with everyone involved, he was extremely satisfied with them, and although upset they were all still alive, he encouraged the soldiers to give them a great feast. Baekhyun and Sehun joined the other boys in the meal room last, those all rowdy and eager to celebrate with each other. It was the best feast they had seen all year. In years. And seeing all the selections of meats and fruits on the table made Baekhyun’s mouth water, and his eyes became enlarged. It was perfect.

Baekhyun turned and smiled at Sehun. Sehun smiled back down at him and they took open seats next to each other.

Yixing was sitting across from them, next to Jongdae and Jongin, and Chanyeol and Kyungsoo were at the other end of the table. These were the only fighters left and they were the only group of the king’s fighters to have ever worked together, and since they had, there was more than enough food for all of them to indulge in happily. They dug into their platters right away, started tearing at the chickens with their teeth, washing it down with warm milk. Water. And Liquor.

Sehun noticed there were a few slices of pies and grabbed one for Baekhyun before any other hands could take it. “Look, chocolate,” Sehun smiled and held it up for him to see.

Baekhyun was already full of pork skin and chicken, potatoes and bread, a mouth nearly exploding as he turned and tried to thank Sehun. He put the piece of pie on his platter and kept eating, saved it for just a moment later.

Seeing how Sehun was treating Baekhyun, Yixing picked up a piece of bread and broke it in half, then he offered it, gesturing to feed it to Sehun. The moment Yixing did it, everyone paused and looked. Sehun swallowed the food he already had in his mouth and took the bread from Yixing quietly with his hand.

Jongin knew Yixing and Sehun had been brought here together, but he’d never talked much to either one of them. He decided to speak up after watching the awkward encounter, “What was your island like?” His question was for both of them.

But Sehun was chewing, so Yixing decided to answer for them, “It was a small island. We all had our duties, our own work to do. Sehun and I were friends there. Our mothers were friends, and their mothers were friends.”

Jongin nodded, deeply interested, “I wish I could have traveled somewhere. When I was a kid, I used to pretend I was a sailor.”

Yixing smiled, eyes glancing discreetly toward Baekhyun before responding, “Have your parents ever been on the waters?”

Jongin put a tartlet in his mouth. It was thickly crusted, falling to pieces by graceless fingers, “My dad has been on plenty of boats, but my mom had never, and she isn’t around anymore.”

Baekhyun felt a discomfort having to listen to them talk and knew he couldn’t join in, even if he wanted to. He had no stories, no childhood memories that were unique. None that had defined him. He had grown up in the palace, had only just recently been to town to see it for his own eyes, so he stayed quiet, eating while everyone else joined the conversation.

Chanyeol drank some wine and put an elbow on the table before talking, “It’s really hard thinking about our families and friends outside of the palace because we never really get to see them.” He was trying to chew his food at the same time, “and I can’t imagine how hard it is for them knowing we might not be alive tomorrow.”

Kyungsoo nodded along, though more expressionlessly, “What can we do. This is our life.”

Jongin rolled his eyes at Kyungsoo’s dark response and averted to Sehun, “Has the king seen you for _himself_ yet?"

Sehun nodded yes, “He saw me on the first night the guards brought me in here, and I’m sure he watches me from the towers at the field.”

Yixing cut in quickly, “-Back on our island, Sehun was always a good fighter. He never fought much but he always defended his friends and family.”

Jongdae nudged Jongin with his arm and made fun of how bad Jongin was at fighting. Jongin snapped at him, claiming the only reason Jongdae wasn’t dead yet was because everyone thought he was such a weak opponent, was always hiding. They fell into a loud argument over it, and Chanyeol and Kyungsoo went back to eating and talking quietly amongst themselves.

Baekhyun felt full after a while and stopped eating, then decided to get drunk off as much wine as he could. He poured himself a large cup and drank it down easy, and while he was starting on his second cup, he saw Yixing get up and walk around the table to sit at the other side of Sehun. Baekhyun became annoyed that they were talking to each other again, and in such low voices. He was close enough to hear Sehun saying a few things, but he tried to mostly tune it out, not wanting to overhear them saying something he disliked. Baekhyun decided to turn toward Kyungsoo and Chanyeol and he poured them both some wine.

Kyungsoo paused and stared at him as he did it. Chanyeol looked surprised also. Baekhyun gave a pitiful smile as he lifted his full cup, “Let’s drink.”

Chanyeol grabbed his cup quickly, “Fine with me.”

Kyungsoo, though more hesitantly, lifted his cup in the air after them, and without a toast, or anymore words at all, the three of them drank fast.

The wine ran down the sides of Baekhyun’s mouth sloppily, and he slurped at the inside of the empty cup before pouring himself another. After a while, their faces became red, and they started talking about the semi-snowball fight they had. After a fourth pour, Baekhyun turned and faced Sehun’s direction. Sehun had his back to him, he was facing Yixing completely while they were talking and drinking together.

After pouring a fifth, Baekhyun set it on the table and put his hand under the back of Sehun’s shirt to pinch him. Sehun arched his back and quickly turned around.

“Have a drink with me,” Baekhyun ordered. Then the fifth was gone.

Sehun noticed that all the liquor on the table was running thin, and that Baekhyun’s usually pale cheeks, were now pinked, an almost dark red. Sehun smiled as he faced him, “I think you’ve already had enough.”

Baekhyun’s tongue flopped out as he tried to smile, “When is enough, enough?” He watched Sehun through a hazy and enticed gaze the wine had given him. He watched his lips when he chuckled and pick up a cup, and while Sehun was reaching over to grab a bottle to fill it, Yixing came into view from over his shoulders.

He wasn’t quite glaring, but his stare was intense. Baekhyun knew Yixing had many reasons to hate him, and more now because he was trying to steal Sehun’s attention away, but he didn’t overthink it, didn’t have the state of mind to do it at that moment. He waited for Sehun to bring a cup to his mouth and then drank some more.

It was their longest feast of yet. The loudest. The guards allowed them to take their time, and then once it as over, they were escorted not in pairs, but as one group, which turned out to be more trouble than usual since they were all together and quite intoxicated. Once Baekhyun was back inside his chamber, he immediately went to sit down on his bed to keep his brain balanced. To keep himself from falling over.

A heavy armed fist hit the cell bars to get their attention, and its ringing echoed in Baekhyun’s ear, piercingly. They both looked at the man who had done it. “The king has allowed a night of no locks. For tonight he says his boys deserve it,” Spoke the guard.

Baekhyun looked at Sehun from across the room, surprised. The guard then turned and faced Sehun’s direction, and he spoke more sternly at him, “But that doesn’t mean anyone is allowed outside the palace. There are soldiers all over this place, like ants, so don’t try running off.”

Baekhyun got up and took a step forward, “Does that mean we can walk around as long as we stay in our room?”

The guard sighed with irritation as he answered Baekhyun, “It means all the boys can stay out of their cells, yes. It’d be a risk visiting the others if you leave this room, and you are condemned if you go to the front gates, outside, or anywhere near there, and anywhere close to the royal chambers.”

Amazing, Baekhyun thought, and all he had to do was suffer a bit, get a lip cut. Baekhyun nodded as the guard finished speaking, was content with the answer he’d gotten, and then the man turned back towards Sehun, giving him another warning before leaving. Their doors were left ajar.

Sehun sat down on his bed with a tired sigh, “This all sounds nice but after eating, I’m actually sleepy.”

“And It’s freezing in these rooms!”

Baekhyun ran forward, dashing into Sehun’s chamber, his cover flowing behind him as he dove on Sehun’s bed, then he crawled over to the wall and rolled himself into a cocoon.

Sehun observed him, amused by the action, “Are you drunk?”

Baekhyun maneuvered until he was out his shoes and unraveling enough for air, “A little.”

Sehun pulled off his own boots and then laid down and tugged at the covers from Baekhyun. “I’m a little drunk, too,” He answered truthfully.

They shared the sheet. Were close enough to touch as Baekhyun uncurled himself and lied on his side. Sehun faced him and put his hand on Baekhyun’s thigh, lightly grasping it and bringing it over to rest at his hip.

“If we’re closer, we’ll be warmer,” Sehun told him. There was a miniscule smile at his lips.

Baekhyun put his arm at the dip of Sehun’s waist, and they shifted their bodies together, for best comfort, until they’re legs were more tangled, and their chests were inches apart. With their faces close, Sehun stared down at Baekhyun’s eyes, breathing out the warmest air against his nose. They couldn’t stay apart for long, not while they had each other in the same bed. Baekhyun couldn’t be this close to Sehun and not think about the way they had kissed in the bathhouse, and how Sehun’s hands had been all over him. Everywhere on him.

Baekhyun closed his eyes, and he kept them closed not wanting to see Sehun’s reaction when he kissed him. He pushed his lips up and felt Sehun’s own. Sehun’s lips parted for him and pressed back with no pause. They kissed for a moment. Stopped. And then kissed again, and again. The hand on his thigh held him tighter, then it moved, trailed upward to cup one of Baekhyun’s cheeks in its palm.

Baekhyun was astonished by how much his body wanted this. Between their kisses, he could hear his own quivering breath, and he could feel Sehun becoming hard against him, then his own body reacted for more, pushing forward to feel it. That's when Baekhyun broke off the kiss, knowing what happened at the bath was about to happen again, yet Sehun chased his lips and pulled their bodies closer.

“Sehun, we can’t,” Baekhyun managed to say, but he didn’t mean it. He knew he didn’t. It was feeble. It was masked with pleasure as Sehun rolled them over and got on top of him.

Baekhyun lifted his gaze and saw Sehun peering down at him with a deep craving in his eyes. He tried to fight his wants, to no avail, a deep groan escaped his mouth as Sehun rolled his hips down between his legs, and his body pushed back. Sehun bunched up Baekhyun’s shirt and kissed on his stomach, slowly around his navel, and then took a gentle bite at Baekhyun’s abandonment.

Baekhyun arched and couldn’t escape, slightly shuddering from the cold draft that was coming in from the lifts happening under their covers. Sehun brought his lips back up and kissed toward an ear as Baekhyun dragged his hands down his back and pressed them to his bottom, assisting Sehun to grind down on him harder, to feel what was stiff and thick.

It wasn’t like the last time they’d been like this together, Baekhyun hadn’t responded much to him, and now that he was, Sehun couldn’t keep quiet either, moaning in response to how deeply Baekhyun wanted him, and his hands continued to crawl under Baekhyun’s shirt until he was pushing it overhead and throwing it to the floor.

Sehun returned to nibbling at skin, and Baekhyun felt frozen under him by each touch from those lips, frozen, and not knowing how to regain control of himself. He couldn’t hear his own thoughts, though there was nothing in his head telling him to stop Sehun from what he was doing. Sehun kept stripping him, of what was left of him, and he removed every piece of clothing from Baekhyun until there was nothing left. Until he was there naked and spread with hands through Sehun’s hair, feeling him. Sehun bowed his head and began licking around the arch of Baekhyun’s neck, then down to his nipples again, nibbling each one into his mouth and grazing them with his teeth.

“Sehun, wait.”

Sehun pulled up from Baekhyun’s chest and looked down at him, vaguely apologetic, “Did I bite too hard?”

Baekhyun was planning to tell Sehun that he needed to think for a moment. But he couldn’t think. Couldn’t say, he could only do. Baekhyun shook his head and then rolled over onto his front, and his perk bottom lifted behind him in the air for Sehun to relish in.

Sehun took Baekhyun’s cheeks in both hands and spread him gently. His body ached once he saw how wet and pink Baekhyun’s hole was. He was provoked to touch it, enticed by the view. He put a finger in his mouth, sucking on it to get it moist and then running it down between Baekhyun’s cheeks a couple times before he moved his hand underneath to where Baekhyun's shaft could be felt, and he grasped it with a grunt. 

Sehun's tight hold left Baekhyun breathless, wanting more. Fast. Baekhyun turned and look over his shoulder with a filthy gaze, sultry and low as he spoke, “It’s okay if you do it.”

There was an obvious understanding between them what it meant. And the need for more was showing at Sehun’s crotch. He ran his hands up and down Baekhyun’s backside some more, soundlessly feeling every part of him, tantalized by the curves, then he found that his hands were drawn to Baekhyun’s cheeks more than anything and he cupped them in his hands again, squeezing at the folds.

Baekhyun couldn’t wait anymore, and he gently brought his knee inward, bending it toward his stomach. This position flaunted his perked butt more and with another look over his shoulder, Sehun got the hint that he was taking too long. He got underdressed and repositioned himself behind Baekhyun, after a couple tugs at his cock, and longing at the sight of what he was about to have, Sehun pushed the tip inside. His went fluttering shut, it would be too hard for him to stop and pull out after this point.

Baekhyun’s hole was squeezing and sucking him in, luring Sehun inside until he was all the way fit, nuzzled, with only the soft pressure of Baekhyun’s bottom against his abdomen.

Sehun started moving slowly, cautious of the bed. The frame was fragile. He was also concerned for any noise, for the creaking and scratching of the bed moving against the floor that could cause too much sound.

There was falling snow outside the window and all was quiet, only Baekhyun’s moans gave life to the room, and he was illuminated, sheer from the candle lights. Sehun couldn’t imagine seeing anything more stunning, more agonizingly beautiful than Baekhyun in this position, submitting to his feelings and withering under him in lewd sounds.

He kept a steady pace for a few moments but soon started to go faster once he felt himself twitching inside. The legs of the bed began to rock instantaneously as he picked up speed, and he was tempted to be rough just by watching Baekhyun rolling his head around with moans. He snapped his hips forward and stroked faster, cushioned by a soft bottom.

The Slapping sounds of Sehun thrusting against Baekhyun’s butt made them both more aroused. Baekhyun couldn’t keep his eyes open, they were squeezed shut as Sehun kept hitting a spot inside him that made his breath catch and quiver out. He only looked back again when he heard a low moan from behind, and he could see it on Sehun’s face that he was already close to coming.

Baekhyun wanted to finish with him, so he reached a hand under himself and began to stroke his shaft to match Sehun’s pace, then he was stretching his neck back as Sehun tilted forward to capture his lips.

Baekhyun grunted breathlessly, deep moans into every broken kiss, every thrust that made them slightly come apart. Sehun kept kissing him, he wanted them to stay connected in every way, at every minute of this, so he took hold of Baekhyun by his neck and held him there. Their tongues were sloppily immersed in each other’s mouths, licking and lapping, and trying to taste each other more. They were so indulged by their passion that they hadn’t heard the door to the room open. Coming inside was Jongin. Behind him, Yixing.

Since Jongin and Yixing resided across from each other, they had agreed to come see Sehun together, regardless of the equal warning they had also received by their guard. They walked in the room quietly and right away there was a certain smell that could be noted, although the sounds coming from down the hall is what gave it away, obscene slaps and wet noises, it was more than enough to know something was going on.

Yixing froze in place and Jongin gave him a wary look. They didn’t know if they should continue, Yixing stayed by the door, fearing what he might see, but Jongin was more curious, hoping it wasn’t what he thought. Hoping he would prove their suspicions wrong. When he got to the corner, he very quietly inched forward. Baekhyun’s chamber was already in view, empty and left open. Jongin leaned forward and the rocking old frame could be better heard along with soft closed-mouth moans.

As he peered around the wall, what he saw inside Sehun’s chamber horrified him. Baekhyun was groaning, being taken from behind and facing Sehun over his shoulder, moaning into his partly opened mouth. Sehun was just as absorbed, grinding himself deeper inside him, and chasing the peaks of pleasure with rapid thrusts.

Disgusted and overwhelmingly confused, Jongin jerked back and looked up the hall at Yixing. Just the look on his face told Yixing everything he needed to know. The door closed without Baekhyun or Sehun ever becoming aware that they had been temporarily watched.

Sehun was getting closer to his release and his thrusting was becoming sloppy but he knew he couldn’t finish inside of Baekhyun without asking, and although he badly wanted to do it, he took consideration to the complicated relationship they had. Baekhyun might not want it. He let a shaky breath go and reluctantly slowed his pace, panting lips inches from Baekhyun’s kissed-plump ones.

Baekhyun felt Sehun’s hand drop from his neck as the motion stopped. He opened his eyes and saw that Sehun was just staring back at him, “Is it not enough? Why have you stopped?”

Sehun swallowed lightly, still managing to speak over his winded words, “I don’t want to pull out of you. I want to finish inside you.”

Baekhyun crinkled his brows at him, he was feeling too dazed to care, “..And you had to stop everything to tell me that?”

Sehun let out a small laugh, and without another word, he started up again. At the very second, his speed increased, sending Baekhyun back into cries of desire. It took a moment before Baekhyun heard himself getting too loud, then he dropped his head and stayed faced down on the bed. Sehun felt his release building up rapidly, and he pressed harder into Baekhyun, as hard as he could until they were moaning uncontrollably to the feeling of him spilling out everything inside.

The rocking of the bed stopped and Sehun pulled out, dripping wet, and he turned Baekhyun around, not surprised to see a stiff, pink cock. He scooted down and laid flat, propped up on his elbows, and put Baekhyun’s legs over his shoulders. He started licking first and sucking around his inner thighs. This area was sensitive, and every time he touched close to Baekhyun’s groin, he felt both thighs tense up.

Sehun kept kissing for another moment before he bowed his head and put Baekhyun in his mouth. He swallowed the tip, taste-testing, and it was good, so he kept going with shallow swallows of the head before he took in the full length.

Baekhyun was smaller in size and could fit entirety in Sehun’s mouth without him choking. It only took a few slurps and strokes before Baekhyun was gritting his teeth to keep his moan back and buckling his legs as he came. Sehun didn’t pull off when he felt it, he let him come inside his mouth knowing it would be less to clean up that way, and he didn’t mind the way Baekhyun tasted. It was a liquorice, intoxicating flavor.

After Sehun finished and moved from between his legs, Baekhyun opened his eyes and scooted over to the wall so that Sehun could lie down in the space next to him. They laid there for a moment, as the wave of their lust washed out of their reality. Baekhyun was left dizzy, partly from the alcohol. He looked over with a heavy sigh and felt that he should say something this time, because the last time they had chosen to ignore anything ever happened, and although Baekhyun felt anxious to do it, he swallowed it and spoke, “What happens now?”

Sehun turned his head, subtle about catching up with his breath, “It’s not all up to me.”

Baekhyun looked away, “But I don’t know what to say.”

“Don’t need to say much, though I don’t think we can forget what just happened.”

Baekhyun sat up briefly to pull the cover back over himself, “Was that what you wanted?”

“Yeah.” Sehun sat up, paused to look at him, then got off the bed to pick up their clothes from the floor, “We shouldn’t fall asleep naked though, the guards might see us.”

Baekhyun watched him collect their things. Sehun brought over his clothes and placed them at the foot of the bed for him, then began getting dressed. Baekhyun sighed, he didn’t want to put anything on just yet, “I wish I could sleep naked in your bed every night.”

Sehun pulled on his shirt after pulling up his pants, “Baekhyun, you need to get dressed.”

Baekhyun sat up again. He thought Sehun was trying to get rid of him, so he scowled, curtly grabbing his shirt and pants. “Fine, we don’t have to say anything else to each other.”

Sehun just stared at him, “What are you saying, Baekhyun? I just don’t want anyone coming down here and seeing us naked together.”

“I’ll go to my own bed then.” Baekhyun finished getting his pants on and tried to grab his cover and leave.

Sehun laughed, though he felt even more confused about Baekhyun’s strange behavior. It seemed odd how sensitive he was being. “Is something wrong? I’m not telling you to go back to your own bed. I do want you to stay with me.”

Baekhyun glared up at him, “Are you sure you don’t want anyone catching us together?”

“I don’t think sleeping in the same bed is all that bad, that’s not what I was talking about. Being nude is what we can’t be.” Sehun had his hand holding on to Baekhyun’s arm, but Baekhyun kept stubbornly trying to break free. Sehun still didn’t understand why, “Will you stop trying to get away from me, why are you trying to get away from me suddenly? I thought you would agree?”

Baekhyun dropped his sheet and used his other hand to pry himself lose, and he could feel how overly emotional he was acting, he had no doubt that sleeping with Sehun was a mistake. Just the thought of believing Sehun didn’t want to talk to him made him feel unwanted and crushed. Baekhyun didn’t want to feel that way, he’d felt that way enough in his life. With Sehun he wanted it to be different, he wanted Sehun to like having him near.

Baekhyun looked over at his own chamber, he knew how bad he didn’t want to return there. It looked terrifying to him. Too empty, and Sehun wasn’t there. He took a deep breath before giving in, “I’ve just been feeling weird lately. All day and yesterdays, I just…I just really like you. “

Sehun eased his hand over and took hold of Baekhyun again, then picked up the cover off the ground without taking his eyes off him, “Are you afraid of how you’re feeling, Baekhyun?”  Sehun brought him back to the bed and they sat down together.

Baekhyun didn’t want to answer him, he felt he’d already acted out enough. Made a fool of himself.

Sehun waited a moment, then asked something else, “Have you never felt this way about someone before? I mean, whatever you’re feeling for me, I guess it has you pretty messed up.”

Baekhyun shook his head and avoided looking him in the eyes.

“Can you talk to me about what you’re feeling?”

“No.”

Sehun sighed, “Then can you answer one more question for me?”

Baekhyun glanced at him, “What?”

“Will stop acting like you hate me?”

Baekhyun quirked his lip as he narrowed his eyes, “Obviously I don’t hate you, but if you don’t want to talk about what’s happening then I don’t want to talk about it either.”

“I never said I didn’t want to talk about it. All I said was that we couldn’t sleep naked.” Sehun Laughed, “Don’t be so difficult.”

Baekhyun’s narrowed gaze formed a hard glare, “No need to act amused.” He turned over and crawled across the bed to lie by the wall once again. Sehun noticed it was always the spot he chose to be.

As Baekhyun started to face the wall completely, he turned back over and chose to face Sehun instead, then was watching quietly as Sehun laid next to him. They were looking at each other for a moment, then drawing in close and kissing once more. While they were together like this, Baekhyun momentarily forgot the dangers of the palace. Of the cruelty, and their fate.

 

 

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry this is such a long chapter, it just happened this way  
> Thanks for reading!!!!!!!!


	5. Chapter 5

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Baekhyun was startled awake when he heard banging cell bars, rippling and ringing his ears. His heart was speeding when he shot forward out of sleep and saw a guard standing outside the chamber. The guard gave Baekhyun a stern look, so Baekhyun quickly scooted down the mattress and got out of Sehun’s bed without waking him, then took one more look before leaving the chamber. When he stepped out the door, the soldier pushed him toward the other side roughly. Baekhyun glowered, wanting to snap at him, but these guards wanted that, they wanted an excuse to hit Baekhyun. To hit any of them.

The same soldier that had watched him grow up was now hostile against him, now that he was older, he saw Baekhyun as a threat.

The door closed and locked. Then the guard turned around and pulled Sehun’s door closed next, and Baekhyun watched him until he was gone. As he stood alone for a while, he noticed he’d left his cover. It was still on Sehun’s bed and it was too late to ask the guard if he could retrieve it.

Baekhyun walked over to his bed and sat down, bringing his legs up off the ground and looking over seeing to his boots were still in Sehun’s chamber also. It was going to be a long and cold morning.

Once midday came, the sun was highest in the sky. It had warmed up a little, though the palace was still terribly frigid. Baekhyun could hardly wait for the guard to come and let him out, and when he finally did, Sehun was just then waking up as the door came open.

The guard observed him questionably, distrustful by how fast Baekhyun rushed over to enter Sehun’s chamber.

Baekhyun went and stood next to the bed, “Let’s go to town together.”

Sehun was still rubbing his eyes, and as he sat up, he noticed that the guard was lingering by the corner of the hall. Baekhyun followed his gaze and the guard turned away quickly and walked out of sight, leaving them.

Sehun brought his attention back to Baekhyun and smiled at him softly, “What do you want to do in town?”

“I want to go back to that old bar we found.”

Sehun was confused by the suggestion and laughed a little, “There’s nothing there except dust.”

“I know, but we can’t be bothered there. I just want to explore it a little more. We didn’t even go upstairs to see what was up there.”

Sehun stretched his arms outward with another laugh, “Alright, but the entire building might collapse on us, be prepared for that. It didn’t look secure at all.”

“Don’t be so scared,” Baekhyun teased, “Besides, I want another drink.”

Sehun was glad to see Baekhyun acting more accepting of his feelings today. He knew it was likely uncomfortable for someone like him, and he hoped to himself that Baekhyun would be feeling the same about them after a couple of days.

They chatted on for a moment, and then after several minutes of sitting through Sehun yawning and stretching, over and over again, pretending he wanted to lay back down, Baekhyun pulled him out of bed.

He knew Sehun was only trying to aggravate him, he knew they were both in desperate need to see the sun, even if the clouds had already shaded it. It was going to be the best part of their day, to have a glimpse of that beam peeking through the sky and blaring at the white ground. To see every tree glowing bright, every flake flowing in the wind and crumpling over the horses and getting stuck in their hair. It would always be the most strikingly beautiful, yet horrid place to be.

Baekhyun and Sehun walked fast together and stopped at the bridge near town. They decided to watch the stream for a minute and Baekhyun asked Sehun about what would happen to the fish during the winter.

“They’ll swim upstream, otherwise, they’ll be okay, Baekhyun.”

Baekhyun leaned over the side and stared at them for a while, watching few fishes moving, a wild bright orange and reds. “They’re so pretty.”

They spent a few moments observing, then Sehun started shivering next to him. They didn’t have coats or anything to keep them warm in the winter other than their clothes and covers, but they couldn’t walk around with their covers wherever they went, and Sehun noticed some hairs standing up at the nape of Baekhyun’s neck.

“Aren’t you cold? Let’s go to the bar already.”

“Yeah, I’m freezing, but I’m just kind of used to it.”

Baekhyun pulled away from the bridge and followed Sehun to the other side. They entered the snowy town, and could smell chimneys burning, could see the smoke from a distance coming out of multiple buildings. It took a while for them to remember which alley they had found the abandoned shop at. It took fifteen minutes before Sehun was pulling Baekhyun in the right direction and they entered it together. It was a bit warmer.

They found somewhere to sit first, feeling slightly tired from all the walking and pushed two chairs together so that they could face each other as they talked for a short moment, then fell quiet and held each other for a while, using each other’s bodies for greater warmth.

It was bittersweet how comforting being in Sehun’s arms was for Baekhyun, a cheek pressed at his shoulder. He could feel things from his heart, less than from his body. Instead of having lustful thoughts, he started thinking about what it was going to be like returning back to a cold room and separated, and he thought about eventually having to live without Sehun, because a time of death was sure to come for them both.

Sehun felt heavier leaning on him after a while, so Baekhyun pulled back and Sehun withdrew with him, smiling. They shared a soft kiss. And then another deeper one. There was a tiny noise of lips parting and closing. Meeting and separating.

“Do you think anyone would find us if we decide to stay here?” Baekhyun asked, then he turned his cheek and laid it at Sehun’s shoulder again to rest.

“They would find us here.”

“Hm.”

“..we could leave town to prevent that.”

Baekhyun tensed up, afraid to even touch that thought, “We’d be wanted men. They’d send soldiers after us and they’d kill us.”

“If we had a boat...”

“Sehun, please. I don’t want to talk about this.” Baekhyun pulled away from him, “I don’t want to want things that are out of my reach. I don’t want to lose you over my selfish desires.”

Sehun’s gaze lingered, eyes twinkling by the profound affection Baekhyun was showing him, “Would you be hurt if I was gone?”

“Yes, I’d be hurt if anything happened to you. Let’s say we do try to find a way to leave, and if we do fail and are captured, they’d hang us both. Or just one of us to make the other surfer more, and I can’t stand having that thought.”

“But if we were successful, we’d be able to live where we want. We could go back to my island.”

Baekhyun pulled out of Sehun’s arms completely, wishing Sehun would stop talking. It was only making his heart feel stranger, vile, more pressure. “Do you really think it’s that easy? Even if we make it to any boats, how would I live out there? I don’t even know how to read, Sehun. I can’t take care of myself.”

Sehun took hold of Baekhyun’s hands, assuring him with a more intense look, “I’d take care of you, Baekhyun. My grandparents are still on the island, and they’d take care of you, too.”

Family. Sehun still had family, and they were probably mourning his lost. Baekhyun bit back his expression of grief, but it engulfed him. He would love to leave, to go with Sehun and be somewhere where he could live normally and not be afraid. To not falsely praise a king.

Once, he had respected his position as a fighter, now he saw it as nothing more than a King’s pet. Truly, he felt like another animal. No purpose but to run wild and bite.

“I’m sorry for how I treated you when I first met you, Sehun. I didn’t know any better.”

Sehun could see Baekhyun was hurting and leaned forward to kiss his cheek to try to lift his spirits. “You still don’t know any better,” He spoke softly, tried getting a smile.

It fell short, but Baekhyun was touched by his attempt to cheer him up. He wanted nothing more than to return to Sehun’s arms, so he slid back in and held onto him. “I wish I was brave enough for you.” and he sighed, sulking in those thoughts.

Sehun lifted a hand and brushed down the back of Baekhyun’s hair as he pressed him in even closer. “It’s not your fault. The king did this to you. To not fear killing but to fear punishment. I wish I could take you away, but I can’t make you want to risk your life for what you believe is a fantasy.”

Baekhyun closed his eyes and shook his head, frustrated, and he grasped Sehun tighter with both hands as his cries began lightly, muffled against Sehun’s chest, his shirt sucking up the tears a heart swelled with. Their sense of time faded, and after pulling apart they fell into a tangle of lips.

More time faded, and Sehun was bending Baekhyun over the table and pulling down his pants. There was a difference in their movements, something slow and seldom. They wanted to have each other, to have as much as they could get. Sehun pushed his length inside Baekhyun and took him by his hips as he pulled out gradually. He entered slow, pulled out slower, giving Baekhyun all of him. The way Baekhyun looked from behind was Sehun’s biggest weakness.

They could have made as much noise as they wanted, but they were quieter after the conversation had left them feeling full of heartache. Sehun wanted to tell Baekhyun things, he wanted to bring Baekhyun back here every day like it was their own hide away and kiss each other for hours. But it would never be. Their time will always be forced to come to an end. It was a repeated cycle of anguish.

Baekhyun’s head dropped forward with silent moans, eyes kept tightly closed as he felt Sehun thrusting into him quicker.

The table was wobbling under them, shuddering loudly, and Sehun stopped when it sounded like the thing was about to fall apart. He pulled out and laid Baekhyun down on the floor, then slid back inside him. From this position he could see wet lines around Baekhyun’s eyes, so he kissed around his cheeks as he pumped as deep as he could go, and Baekhyun held onto him, moaning his name until Sehun felt him coming. 

Baekhyun’s body tense up and tighten around him, and at that moment Sehun felt his own climax reaching, so he lowered himself to kiss Baekhyun’s lips.

They stayed connected until Sehun was done thrusting and filling him, then their passionate exhaustion lured them to stay lying there together on the floor and in each other’s arms, so easily forgetting how long they had left. They even thought they would have enough time to have a short nap but once they were dozing off, they fell into a deep and heavy slumber.

 

Stiffly, Baekhyun sat up with his arms hugging himself from the cold. The entire bar had fallen to darkness. He couldn’t see in front of himself but could feel that Sehun was still next to him.

Baekhyun shook him on his arm, realizing quickly that they had overslept. “Sehun, get up, we slept well passed our hours.”

Baekhyun kept shaking at Sehun’s arm until he felt him moving. Sehun arose and spoke with a yawn, “I can’t see anything.” He was hardly awake enough to understand the consequences of their reality.

Baekhyun stood up and brought a sleepy Sehun with him after they patted around on the ground for their clothes. They managed to get dressed in the dark with limbs shaking from being in the cold for so long, then Sehun reached around for Baekhyun’s hand and grabbed it, and they quickly searched for the exit together. When they got outside, more snow had fallen, but it hadn’t stopped the town from lightening up and becoming lively.

Baekhyun didn’t have time to fall into awe, although he looked around as they moved through the crowd and through the alleyways. Once they got over the bridge, they let go of each other’s hands, but before going any closer to the palace, Sehun stopped Baekhyun by stepping in his way and grabbing him by his shoulders. “Whatever happens, stay strong for me, okay?”

The worry in Sehun’s eyes was a first Baekhyun had seen. It was deeply coated with fear and affection. Baekhyun wanted to kiss him, take him up on that fantasy. All he could say however, was, “And same to you.”

The soldiers guarding the gates noticed two people coming toward the palace and brought forth their swords, once they recognized that it was Baekhyun and Sehun, one of the men began shouting and telling them that they would be dealt with accordingly. Sehun and Baekhyun were grabbed by their arms roughly by many and dragged back inside, back down the halls and back to their chambers.

Baekhyun’s heart was growing weary, he knew part of the coming punishment would be a long and painful beating. He knew once the King was told that his favorite pet had seemingly ran off that there would need to be a punishment to remind him of his place in this world.

Baekhyun and Sehun were shoved in their separate cells, like any night, and as soon as the soldiers left the room, they shared a look.

“I’m afraid,” Divulged Baekhyun.

“It’s okay, just try to sleep. Everything will be fine.”

“They’re going to beat us and starve us, Sehun.” Baekhyun could hear his voice shaking, “They’re going to separate us.”

“Baekhyun, you have to calm down, okay? There’s nowhere they can take me where I can’t find my way back to you.”

“That’s not true, and I don’t want to sleep.”

“You have to sleep, just try to rest.” Sehun stepped away from the bars and walked to his bed. Baekhyun didn’t want to turn away, he didn’t want to sleep, but he knew Sehun was right. 

Baekhyun went to his bed and got on it, yet going to sleep felt nearly impossible, he kept sitting up and looking across the room, checking. Sehun wasn’t going to sleep fast either, he stayed propped up against the wall, yet after a while of watching him, Baekhyun felt himself dozing off.

He would doze off, and then wake back up throughout the whole night. Sleep didn’t feel like it had ever really come for him, and the final time Baekhyun dozed away, the next time he opened his eyes, day light was in the room.

None of the guards came to check on them the following morning, and by noon, Baekhyun knew they weren’t going to be allowed to go anywhere. At sundown, when Sehun had finally gotten some sleep, Baekhyun’s worry still wouldn’t leave him alone, but his thoughts were interrupted eventually when a soldier came and brought them their daily food.

Baekhyun only received bread and he pieced off the mold from the edges just to eat it, and then drank it down with a few sips from the container of water he'd been given, whilst Sehun received an apple and nothing else.

Baekhyun ate and drank only what he needed before he told Sehun to reach out his hand. “Here, take it.” He stretched his arm out as far as it could go and then trusted himself to toss the container over. Sehun was able to catch it and he drank what was left before thanking him.

Baekhyun had never shared anything with anyone else prior, nor had he ever wanted to, but he didn’t want Sehun to go without. He’d starve-if Sehun had to. He’d freeze-If Sehun had to.

The next morning before sunrise, a soldier came and woke Baekhyun. He sat up thinking there was only one guard, but there were three men waiting for him at his door. Baekhyun knew, then, he was about to be taken and punished.

They opened the door and Baekhyun got out of bed and put on his shoes, then as they opened Sehun’s chamber, more men came in to handle him. Baekhyun watched them struggle to keep ahold of Sehun as he refused to get up. He wanted to tell Sehun not to fight them and make it worst, but he couldn’t say that, he knew Sehun was not like him, and would not be easily submissive to any authority.

They forced Sehun to walk after putting chains around his wrist, then allowed Baekhyun to walk unbound between two guards. They didn’t know where they were going to end up or how far the guards would take them. Reality only began to show itself when they were led to the field and saw a large platform that had been set up for an execution. And there were two ropes.

Baekhyun’s breath hitched when he saw it, and his heart began pounding at his chest. He looked back and tried to see Sehun’s face, but a guard blocked him. In the distant tower, no king was there, yet around them was a crowd gathered around the platform, of guards and servants, of a few people from town. All quiet. Not one sound or sorrowful face.

The guards took Baekhyun and Sehun up the platform and put them to stand next to each other and by the separate hanging ropes. Baekhyun stared out at the crowd and saw the other fighters by the back wall of the palace and being forced to watch.

After a moment, a soldier stepped forward and began talking to the people, “These boys have fated themselves by trying to make a fool out of the king. They ran off. Did as they pleased. Rebelled a king’s charity to his fighters and made it a mockery by returning when they thought fit. And now their punishment hangs before them; however, I do not have the authority to convict them as we all would like to see, and we’ve yet to hear from the king for how he wants to handle their lives right here on this platform. We shall wait. The king will be joining us shortly.” The soldier cleared his throat and then stepped back.

Baekhyun looked around at everyone, they were all too afraid to speak up against it. Most of the servants and guards knew Baekhyun’s face since he was a child. Being reminded of this, he’d never felt angrier in his life. Betrayed in some way. He knew he deserved punishment, but death, it seemed cruel. Unfit. And no one was saying a thing about it, staring at him like he had no real place to be.

Baekhyun looked over at Sehun. Sehun looked at him. They couldn’t say anything to each other and when they were looking at each other for far too long, one of the soldiers interrupted by hitting Sehun at the back of his head. It made him fall to his knees.

It was a long wait until, alas, the crowd began to whisper amongst themselves and everyone could hear more guards approaching them. Slaves carried their ruler in a dark palanquin and brought him forth as the guards parted the crowd to give a straight path to the platform, right up front. Baekhyun stared down at the litter and waited to see the King, and how he would look up at him. It had been so long since the King had directly spoken to him. Baekhyun didn’t know what he should be feeling.

Slaves lowered the carrier, but the king did not step out. The guards, in response, walked over and lowered the rope down Baekhyun’s neck. Sehun was pulled to his feet, and a rope was pulled down on his neck also.

Baekhyun waited. Waited. But nothing was happening. He broke, screaming down at the King, although he couldn’t see him, “Aren’t you going to tell them to let me go?” It was the loudest voice at dawn. The whispers in the crowd faded as Baekhyun echoed over the sky.

Those black curtains of the carrier parted, and finally their King stepped out, aged and pale. Baekhyun stared directly at him, fuming.

The king looked around at his people and then up at the guards, resoundingly nonchalant, “Shall I let them go, then. Since Baekhyun doesn’t seem to be understanding the consequences of his actions.”

“I lost track of time, that is all! I don’t deserve death for that. I’ve done everything else in my life to serve you!” One of the guards quickly stepped forward and hit Baekhyun across his face for talking back.

The king grew angry upon seeing him be struck so violently, “Don’t assault him! He has a right to defend himself.”

The guard stuttered, “But my king-he and-“

The king raised his hand ordering him to be quiet. And everyone else. He then looked at Baekhyun again, darkly unemotional, “Why do you believe you _both_ deserve to live?”

“Because I’ll fight for it,” Baekhyun replied hastily, “Sehun and I will do anything to please our lord.”

The king smirked, moving his eyes to Sehun, who said nothing, “Then I want to hear you both say it. Praise your lord on your knees.”

Baekhyun looked over nervously, afraid that Sehun would never bow. He wanted to beg Sehun to do it, tell him to just do it, so he tried communicating his desperation through a gaze as he slowly lifted the rope from his neck and got down on his knees.

Sehun remained standing. The king laughed, “So it be. It appears only one of you will continue on in this life.”

Baekhyun panicked, “No!” and he sprung up from the ground to try to get to Sehun, but a guard swiftly grabbed him and kept him back. “Sehun, please, I know you’re not used to serving a king, but please, do as he says," Baekhyun begged, “please!”

Sehun looked over and nodded quietly, and as he started to get down, an aggravated soldier kicked him from behind pushing his body off the platform. Sehun went swinging forward and gasps lit up the silence.

Baekhyun cried out for the king to help him. To stop it, “Do something! Please! Please! Please!” The worst version of his world was unfolding before him. He began to feel like he was watching his own life, too, starting to wither away as Sehun struggled, hands still bound by chains, hovering, and swinging over the ground.

Baekhyun tried to go to him once more, but more guards held him down. It was his fault for getting so attached. For letting this happen.

The king allowed it to go on for an agonizing minute before raising his hand to end it, “That’s enough.”

By this time, Sehun’s struggling was ceasing, and two of the guards tried to protest against stopping it. They were shouted at, “I said that’s enough! Let him go or one of you will be replacing him.”

With one swing of a sword, the rope was cut. Baekhyun watched Sehun drop to the ground and grasp at his neck for air, breathing and choking. Although frightened, Baekhyun was hit with relief and fell to his knees, trembling. 

The king stepped toward Sehun and stared down at his body, then he turned to look up at Baekhyun, he was panting in distress. He knew right then by that reaction there something going on between them, or something indecent had taken place between them. The king had never dealt with any serious problems from his favorite, and now it seemed to be the beginning of the end. He shook his head in displeasure then turned to walk back to the palanquin, and before he got back inside it, he ordered the guards to return his boys back to their chambers. All of them.

 

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**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The end is near!!! Have a happy new years everyone!!!


	6. Chapter 6

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Sehun was rubbing his fingers over the burn marks on his neck, feeling the thin red welts that the rope had left on him. Back in their separate cells, they sat for what felt like hours saying nothing. Baekhyun didn’t want to be in different cages, he wanted to hold Sehun after what had happened, check his wounds, and make sure he was fine.

Still, It took a long time before Baekhyun forced himself to speak up. Not knowing if an apology was would do.

“We shouldn't have gone there. It was my fault.”  He couldn’t get out of his head how close they had come to meeting death. He’d nearly broke into pieces seeing Sehun be pushed off the platform.

“It was both of us standing there. You have no reason to think it was your own doing.” Sehun looked over at his cell but said no more before lying down.

 “We have a fight soon.” Baekhyun pressed down on the bed, exhaling, “I’m tired of it all.”

“Are you going to be okay?”

Baekhyun nodded into the mattress, but he really wasn’t too sure if he’d be alright. “Will you?”

“Yeah.” Sehun turned over and laid on his side to stare at the wall. Baekhyun lifted his head a little, just enough to see him and he wondered if Sehun was thinking about everything they had done together on that bed. When there wasn't another response, Baekhyun closed his eyes and tried to get some sleep.

 

 

 

The dark returned. Day light emerged. The next fight was in the late hours to come.

Baekhyun and Sehun talked through the day, sometimes falling quiet to the severity of their hunger, and eventually, they came up with a strategy, to stay together and cover each other’s back. It was what they thought best to do.

As the sun began to set, a guard came in to collect them. Baekhyun wasn’t feeling strong when he stood up to follow. He was feeling frail, weak from hunger, but he’d been in this position before, so he knew what he was feeling wasn’t just weakness from starvation, it was from concern. He was concerned for the well being of another person. It was the attachment that was weakening him and causing him to have a difficult, unnerved heart.

Every fighter was lined up, and like before, there were no weapons to be had. Baekhyun peered over as the soldiers were counting heads, and he saw hungry, determined faces. He knew they must have all been punished, beaten for the simple fact that he and Sehun had caused trouble.

Baekhyun chanced a look toward the distant tower, and again, their King was not present. Perhaps it was too cold for him. Perhaps he was sick of them.

The battle trumpets blew their horns after the counting was finished, and everyone took off running into the woods. Baekhyun and Sehun went far to the left, planning to find a place to cover and make weapons on their own. They hadn’t decided who they were going go after, but Baekhyun knew _someone_ would have to suffer the repercussions.

Baekhyun and Sehun came to a patch of bushes and kneeled. It was hard running in ankle high snow, but they had boots, and a good bit of strength left in them to help them through it. They squatted together and dug out sticks from under the white dirt.

“I’m going to go find something more sturdy to use. Stay here,” Sehun told Baekhyun. If it had been another day, another time, Baekhyun would have refused to stay behind and just hide, but he decided to listen this once, trusting him.

Sehun got up then and stayed low as he moved away  and disappeared between the trees. Baekhyun watched him go and remained observing his surroundings. As he waited for Sehun to return, he kept searching under the snow for something sharp and thick enough to hit with, but most of the sticks were too flimsy and broke when he bent them even the slightest.

There was some noises and voices.

Baekhyun heard them and looked up, and he could see over the bushes at what was there. Chanyeol, Jongdae, and Jongin, they were looking around, speaking low, and not attacking each other.

Baekhyun thought to himself for a moment, that maybe they had come up with an alternative and were looking for him and Sehun to cohort with, it was possible, though he hesitated as he thought it over. He wanted to stand up and find out, but he didn’t know what it would lead to, and although he didn’t entirely need weapons to defend himself, he knew he wasn’t in the right state of mind to handle all three of them.

Chanyeol, Jongdae, and Jongin stopped in their tracks and kept talking. They looked upset about something. Baekhyun decided then, to just reveal himself.

As he stood up and stepped over the bushes, appearing before them several feet away, the talking stopped and all three looked at Baekhyun, startled. Baekhyun could tell right away by their faces that something was not right with them, that whatever they had been talking about hadn’t been in favor of all of them surviving.

They stared at him then, collectively with blank expressions, and then Chanyeol and Jongin brought their hands from behind their backs, each one holding stones.

Baekhyun quickly reached down and scooped up a handful of rocks, “Whatever you're thinking, go ahead and try it.”

Although Jongin and Chanyeol had large stones, Jongdae had a very small one and he started walking toward Baekhyun, slowly with an impassive look, “Try what? We were only looking for you.”

Baekhyun tightened his grasp on his rocks. “Why?”

 _"W_ _hy_?”Chanyeol answered for him, and he began to move, going right, while Jongin went left. “You’re really something _special_ , Baekhyun. That's why."

Jongin inched closer, careful steps in the snow, " Can’t believe you were walking around with your chest all puffed up for years, yet the minute Sehun comes along, he’s got you running around headless.”

Baekhyun couldn’t keep his eyes on all three of them at once. With Chanyeol and Jongin on separate sides, and Jongdae at his front, he kept averting his gaze to keep them in sight. “I don’t know what this is about. I haven't done anything wrong."

Jongdae’s face curled with disgust, “Except you did, you’re the reason we were punished. Selfish and careless, you are.”

“It was a mistake that I overslept. But I was in town, I wasn’t trying to run away like the guards claim.”

“Liar!” Jongin retorted loudly, “And who had you been with? It was Sehun. You're willing to drive yourself to the grave for him?"

"If I don't put myself there, someone else will."

Chanyeol laughed stiffly, "You're still making jesters about all this? You're not to be trusted. Not you _or_ that voyager, Sehun."

Hearing the strain in their voices, Baekhyun could sense they were ready to pounce. “Shut up, you don’t know what you’re talking about. If not for Sehun we wouldn't have had a great feast. Not all four of us would be standing here because I would have killed one of you."

Jongin paused, "That feast was rather interesting."

Chanyeol was getting closer. They were all getting too close. Baekhyun tried to contemplate his next move and took a step back, glancing at the stones they kept grasped in each palm. "What is it that you're going on about now?"

"I saw the two of you together that night! No one else had seen it, but I had. What you were letting Sehun do to you after our feast. It was sick!” **** ~~~~

Baekhyun froze up, a little caught off guard, but he didn't dare to admit anything. "Shut your mouth. None of you know anything!" And while his eyes were fixed on Jongin, Chanyeol had gotten close enough to grab him. Baekhyun pushed away from him, but it was soon to be a struggle as Jongin and Jongdae quickly joined and helped Chanyeol to restrain him.

Baekhyun thought they were going to beat him, but he was wrong, they started pulling at his clothes instead. “What are you all doing! Let go!”

“Oh! quiet!” Jongin snarled, “All this time you’ve been giving yourself Sehun, repulsively, and it backfired! He’s got all that power from you now, so why not let us have some of it!"

Chanyeol’s started tearing and ripping at Baekhyun’s shirt, nearly pulling off a sleeve. They worked together, pulling, trying to drag him down. Baekhyun pushed back and managed to pull away completely, but stumbled to the ground. He started crawling backwards, kicking at them to keep them back, but they were relentless, and their hands went to his legs to pull off his pants together at once. He kept kicking and swinging his fist, eventually hitting Jongdae in the face and shoulder.

Jongin was hit by his ear and gritted his teeth, growing deeply frustrated. Then Chanyeol was hit next, directly at his chest and then again harder at his lower region. He stumbled back, dazed by the blow. 

Jongin and Jongdae stopped, stunned for a moment that Baekhyun wasn’t going to die without a struggle, then the three of them quickly turned back to the ground for the stones they had dropped. Baekhyun saw what they were doing and tried to get up to run, but they started throwing the stones at him, knowing he was close enough for each impact to be crucial.

Baekhyun held up his arms to protect his face, yet one stone hurled at him after the other until one got through his weak defense and struck him between his eyes. The hit stung, stunned Baekhyun briefly, and then he was falling to his back, losing all feeling in his body before it hit the ground.

A few more stones went flying and tumbled into the snow. Jongin, Jongdae, and Chanyeol were exasperated, heavily breathing. They expected Baekhyun to get back up. He didn’t. So they stood there, waiting and expecting, all staring at him lying motionless on the ground.

Before long, they began to realize they might have really killed him. They looked at each other worriedly, and instead of checking to see if he was okay, at the first sign of blood, they turned and ran off.

 

 

 

 

Snow.

Through the trees, snow was coming down on him in thousands of blurry flakes. Baekhyun could barely open his eyes at first. His sight was fuzzy as he began to wake up, and when he touched the sore spot at his nose, he saw some blood on his fingers. He stood up on shaky legs and started calling out for Sehun, voice dry from being knocked out for some time.

“Sehun!”

He did not care anymore if the others heard him, and as he started to walk, he tried to stay in focus with the ground but stumbled toward a tree. Baekhyun was too weak to go anywhere far on his own, so he looked up at the sky again, staring at all the falling specks as he turned and pressed his back against bark, then slid down to rest on his bottom. After a long wait in the cold, Baekhyun saw Sehun return to their bush, to the spot where he had fallen.

When there was no sign of him, only blood on the snow, Sehun started looking around in a frantic. 

“Sehun! I’m here!”

Sehun turned quickly, following the sound. He ran over to Baekhyun under the tree and got down to see if he was alright, “What happened to you?”

“Chanyeol and the others.. It was Chanyeol and Jongin and Jongdae. They hit me-they hit me with stones.” Baekhyun leaned forward and wrapped his arms around Sehun the minute he could, “They know, Sehun. Everyone knows everything.”

Sehun held Baekhyun close and was careful with helping him to stand. Once they were on their feet, he tried cleaning Baekhyun’s face with his sleeve. “They attacked?”

“Yes. And they said they saw us together. Somehow, they must have, and now they all know what we did. We must leave this place to be safe, Sehun. I don’t care anymore. I can’t be here anymore. I can’t do this anymore.”

Sehun looked around Baekhyun's face for any other wounds, “Shh, it’s alright.”

“It’s not alright. Once you came here, my entire world was made out to be something else. I don’t know how to behave or how to act anymore. I’m humiliating myself. It’s humiliating me, Sehun!”

Sehun brought Baekhyun into his arms again and tried to calm him down with an affection hand patting at the back of his head. They stayed pressed together, but there was no real way to handle this.

“Kyungsoo is gone,” Sehun whispered at his ear.

Baekhyun looked back up and wasn’t sure if he heard him right.  “What?”

“…Kyungsoo is gone,” Sehun repeated. This time more clear.

Baekhyun didn’t need to ask anything else. He turned his gaze and stared over at the snow-covered terrain. He knew what it meant. It was undeniable in Sehun’s eyes. 

 

 

 

When it came time for them to go back to their chambers, high tension was within in the palace, and as the group was escorted there, Chanyeol was anything but quiet, hurling insults at Baekhyun, and Jongin was trying to spit at him. But the guards did nothing about it.

After the pairs were separated, one guard told Sehun a feast would be brought to his room in a while, Sehun then asked the guard if he could share his meal with Baekhyun. By now, every person was suspicious of Baekhyun and Sehun’s relationship. It was made even clearer since Baekhyun had begged the King to let Sehun live, still, the guard didn’t know what to say in this situation, because no one had ever requested to share their feast with the other boys.

The guard in charge of their room agreed, since there was no rule against it. So instead of Baekhyun going back with the others to eat in the meal room, they were allowed to wait together in Sehun’s chamber.

Baekhyun had a feeling the other fighters were probably going to criticize him more and rant about them harshly because of his absence from the table. He knew it was likely Yixing hated him, and that Jongin was going to tell everyone what he claimed to have seen.

Several platters were brought in much later. The sight was nice, plenty of food and wine. Baekhyun ate, but Sehun hadn’t the stomach for it. After what Sehun had done, his appetite couldn’t even defeat the sorrow he felt. Baekhyun stopped picking at the food after a while and looked at him with concern, “You must eat something, Sehun.”

“I’ll eat in a little while.”

“There’s not time to waste, don’t have the whole night to eat it. that guard will take whatever we don’t finish, remember?”

Sehun eased forward and dropped his head in his hands. "Later."

Baekhyun stared, then scooted closer when it seemed he was upset. “Did something happen?" When Sehun wouldn’t look up, he had a feeling he knew what it was. "Is it because of...Kyungsoo?"

 Sehun shook his head, dispirited, “I just keep thinking about it.”

“You did what you had to do. It’s always hard the first time, but we can get through this.”

Sehun straightened up and brought Baekhyun’s hands to his lap. His eyes were stern. “I think you were right about what you said in the woods. We should just go, Baekhyun. I won't do what I did a second time.”

Baekhyun stared at Sehun with fear brewing in his gut. He had already experienced the feeling of almost losing him, he didn’t want to ever feel that way again, “I wasn't thinking when I said those things."

"Still, you weren't wrong."

"Are you really thinking about stealing a boat?...Sehun, I don’t know if..”

“I hurt someone. I did it. I don’t want to go without you but..” Sehun looked down at the food, then at their laced fingers. “..I can’t stay here.”

Baekhyun looked down at their connection, too, and it felt like Sehun had just told him that he would leave on his own, whether he wanted to come or not. It was the last thing Baekhyun wanted to ever hear. He didn’t ever want to be faced with these two options. Staying or going. However, there was no real doubt for what he knew he wanted. He knew he had to go. Either go or be forced to live without Sehun. Forever.

“Is it really what you want to do?” Quivered Baekhyun.

“Don’t you think it’s worth trying?”

There was only a vivid image, one of Sehun by the rope. It was the scariest moment for Baekhyun, not knowing if Sehun would live or die. He knew if they chose this, it would be a risk to see the same thing twice. “If we do this…there’s no turning back. No coming back from it. The King won’t forgive us a second time.”

Sehun brought his hands up to cradle Baekhyun’s face, staring at him deeply in his eyes, “Do you trust me?”

“I’m scared to say yes.”

“Then you do.”

“ _Of course. Of course_.”

Once the decision was settled, they talked more about it until they decided they would attack the guard when he returns to put Baekhyun back in his chamber.

Baekhyun felt nervous about it, but he knew they could take him on as a pair, and it wasn’t attacking their room guard for which frightened him, it was the thought of being caught afterwards, It was all his emotions running wild, uncontrollable, and most of all, it was his hope. That small bit of hope in the back of his head making him believe there was a possibility that they could get away.

As time went on, they ate quietly and drank only a bit of wine for extra encouragement, and when the guard came back to separate them, Baekhyun and Sehun stood up at his command. They looked normal, not concerning the man, not until Baekhyun was being walked out and then suddenly turned back and shoved him up against the wall. Sehun lunged forward and swung at his face. The first punched knocked him on the ground, and then Sehun hit him a couple more times to keep him down before he snatched the keys off his waist.

Quickly, they stepped out the chamber together with the guard inside, who was left there unconscious. Once the key turned and locked, it was set in motion. They had to make an escape happen for real now.

No sorrys, no tears. Baekhyun nodded at Sehun, determined to keep going.

They turned at the corner in the room quickly, knowing they had to be fast and quiet at once. The door peered open, the corridor before them was empty, but there was still a long stretch from where they stood and to the front gate. And there was a chance of running into sleeping guards and waking them by some nervous bump or trip.

It was too late to turn back. They went moving along the wall as they ventured up the hall and then stopped once they got to the top. As Sehun looked around the corner, Baekhyun turned his head back and looked at their room door that was left open.

It looked so far away now. It looked dark. Cold and empty, a black hole that could suck him back up at any moment. He never wanted to return there. He had always known it was a prison.

Sehun tugged at Baekhyun’s hand when he felt him stalling and losing himself in his thoughts, yet he didn’t risk whispering, only with a dark stare did he tell Baekhyun to stay focused. Baekhyun nodded and continued to follow him.

The palace was eerily quiet, still of the night. They passed guards on duty, all in a slumber. Passed the kitchen, where they could hear servants walking around. And like a dream, they reached the front entrance unharmed. Baekhyun and Sehun looked up and checked the guard towers. One guard was awake, but he was looking at a different direction.

They crept under the shadows of the trees toward the gate then halted when they saw four more men. There was no way to get by or to take them on at once. Their plan was instantly demolished. Flattened right before their eyes.

Sehun turned and faced Baekhyun as he quickly tried thinking of an alternative, “There has to be another way out.”

Baekhyun thought with him but this front gate was the only way off the royal land and to the bride. To the town.

“What about the cliff?” Baekhyun nervously suggested. He knew the cliff led nowhere. But maybe they could find a way around it or down it. Maybe it was possible.

Sehun paused as he looked weary and bothered, “In the woods where they put us to fight?”

“Yes.” Baekhyun bit down on his bottom lip, not wanting to suggest such a thing, but it was there only option. They couldn’t fight four guards weaponless. “Maybe there’s a way down?” Baekhyun added.

Sehun gave in, nodding his head, “I guess you’re probably right, and you know the woods better than anyone. Can you take us to the edge?”

“It’s a straight shot right through the woods. I just fear the snow. There’s a lot, so we have to be careful not to fall.”

Sehun and Baekhyun went back the way they came, staying quiet and unseen. The palace was ghostly still within these late hours. But Baekhyun didn’t want to think about it being empty, he just wanted to concentrate on getting to the cliffside.

After they grabbed one of the lanterns off the wall, they continued on, making it to the backside, running across the field. Baekhyun’s heart had never been so close to his throat before. He felt scared, deeply hopeful. He moved quickly, maneuvering with perfected agility through the vegetation and was leading the way, holding the light.

Once they arrived, Baekhyun held the light up so that they could look around for any alternate path down. The edge of the woods was even more frightening in the dark. Its ledge looked like a straight drop into a void of endlessness.

Sehun moved close to where the land cut off, slipping slightly in the snow as he did, and causing Baekhyun to worry more.

“Careful. Walk slow.” Baekhyun took a step after him and wanted to stay close.

Sehun motioned for the light, and then lifted it up over his head after it was given to him. The glow spread out but there was still more darkness, “It doesn’t look like there’s much here. The sides are jagged and uneven, yet our best luck is climbing down.”

Baekhyun had a decent grip, but he hated the idea of climbing down the side of a cliff. “We don’t know what’s at the bottom of it. I don’t think that’s a good idea, Sehun. There must be another way down.”

Sehun crouched and hovered the lantern over the edge some more, too close for Baekhyun’s comfort. “There’s no other way. If we can just hold onto the sides-“

“-The snow has probably turned into ice against the rock. There’s probably no grip.”

Sehun stood up, “Then shall I go alone?”

“No,” Baekhyun replied sternly, “We’ll do it together, but I’m telling you, I don’t think there’s a good enough grip to keep us from falling.”

Sehun knew it, too. Baekhyun could see it in his eyes. He knew. He knew. There was little hope for them, but they’d already came this far. It had to be this way or else they’d have to go back and wait for punishment. Or death. To Baekhyun, climbing down was the lesser of cruel fates, and with a sigh he moved over and crouched down next to Sehun, grabbing his hand as he looked outward with him. Illumination on the stones made it silver.

"What do you think is down there?”

“Land or water,” Sehun told him, “Either one would be deadly to us if we fall.” Sehun squeezed Baekhyun’s hand and then brought it up to his lips, kissing it tenderly, “But that’s not going to happen. We got this.”

Baekhyun gave him a feeble smile, “I’ll stay close and climb over right behind you.” Then they kissed once before letting go of each other.

Sehun put the lantern down, right at the edge. It gave enough light to show him some path down. It was all they needed to get started. They knew they could figure out the rest on their own, carefully.

As Sehun got down on the ground, Baekhyun picked back up their light, stood back, and watched anxiously. Sehun lowered himself on the other side of the cliff, and right away, his footing was misplaced. All Baekhyun saw was Sehun’s hand slipping away from the ledge.

“Sehun!”

No thoughts. No guessing. Baekhyun jumped. Afterall, it was the only thing left to do. To follow. Because Baekhyun had already known, way before this moment, that he’d rather die following Sehun, than to live with the pain of watching him go.

There was nothing around him but darkness. The cold and the rushing air. He was falling, and through the mist he went. From the mist, he came, he was freed, unchained. The light behind him swooshed by, and there he was, falling just as quickly, -Sehun.

Baekhyun could see him even after the lantern faded into the dark below, and as he reached out, Sehun reached with him, falling fast as their hands were coming closer together. And the gods must have allowed it, for their hands to reach and meet, to grasp each other tightly. Abruptly, just as they had met each other so long ago.

Tears. Baekhyun felt them. From Sehun. From himself. And the water down below, he began to hear it. Getting closer. He could see it after the lantern smashed. Crashing against the rocks, was angry, angry waters. Baekhyun held Sehun’s hand with love, and trust, and with all his strength. It prepared him for the Impact that was coming.

Knowing Sehun was there with him, Baekhyun closed his eyes and was unafraid.

 

 

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> :,(


	7. And the end.

* * *

* * *

 

The wind was in their ears. Then silence. The water swooshing around them. Sehun was underneath everything, feeling Baekhyun's hand slowly slipping away from his. He held on, tried to bring them closer, but the current was pushing against them, churning, and dragging them down.

 

 

 

 

There was rain. Sounds of a heavy pour. He could start to feel his own breathing, his chest rising and filling with air.

There had been nothing, the things he had dreamt. It had felt like he’d fallen. Died. But now his heart was steadily beating again, softly, and Baekhyun could feel it. His body felt numb and cold, but he knew he was alive, and as his eyes came open, he saw light.

By the structure of the room he was in, Baekhyun could tell it wasn’t a cell. He fully opened his eyes and turned his head. An elderly woman was dipping a rag into a bucket then bringing it up and ringing it out. When she turned to face him, she yelped, gasping upon realizing that Baekhyun had awoken.

She paused, then moved toward him and sat down on the side of the bed he was in, folding the rag and placing it on his forehead. Baekhyun stared at her as he felt a hot cloth lay on top of him. It was relaxing and comforting. Then he tried to speak, but only coughs came. He was deeply confused about where he was and when she noticed him trying to form words, she smiled kindly.

“Take your time, it’s alright,” She assured him and then waited patiently for him to be able.

Baekhyun slowly sat up, wincing as his arms ached, and there was a sharp and strong pain that struck down his spine and went straight to his legs. He paused to take a breath in before looking around the room. There wasn’t much in the room he was in, but it most certainly wasn’t the palace. There was a fire, a table of food.

“Where am I?” Baekhyun asked and felt a pain in his jaw as he spoke. He clutched it with a groan.

“You’re safe.” It was such a little reply, yet it held so much meaning.

Baekhyun looked down and noticed the material he was under, it was of fine silk, red, and smooth to touch. As he ran a hand over the fabric,  his memory swarmed back in of the last moments before the fall, then he remembered he hadn’t been alone, and escaping from his chamber had led up to him jumping after someone.

Baekhyun thought more about it and soon remembered that he had indeed escaped the King’s land with someone. With Sehun. He brought his gaze up to the elderly woman watching him, and although he was nervous to ask about Sehun, he knew he wouldn’t really be okay unless he did.

“Sehun…” Baekhyun started and then cleared his throat, “There was another boy with me, where…where is he?”

She smiled again. It was a weaker one, then she placed a hand on the side of the bed sympathetically, “Yes, Sehun is here also. He was the one who brought you here with him, and when he showed up here, he was badly ill, and you were in such bad condition as well, we weren’t sure what to do with the two of you.”

Baekhyun couldn’t recall hitting anything. There was nothing but a blank space between falling and waking up. He wished he could have been there for Sehun and couldn’t imagine the harsh and arduous journey Sehun had to endure while trying to save them both.

“Is he…is he alright?”

“He’s just now recovering. He told us the two of you had escaped that awful land, and all about the way you saved him.”

Baekhyun shook his head out of confusion, “I’ve never saved him from anything. I don’t understand what you’re saying.”

“I can’t tell you exactly what he meant. “ She sighed, and it was clear she had a heavy heart.

Baekhyun wondered what kind of relationship she had with Sehun, “Who are you?”

She patted the mattress with light taps, “His grandmother.”

“What? but-but the water. The cliff. I-I don’t understand.”

“You’ll have to ask him about what concerns you. I regret to say, he made his tale very short, and he didn’t exactly tell us how he got from the water to land. I’m sure he’ll tell if it is you who asks him, and I’m sure he’ll be more than happy to see you’re awake now also. Everyone on the island was starting to become weary of having you kept in here like this.”

Baekhyun couldn’t feel certain places of his body, he moved his leg a tad just to be sure he could. Then an arm again. He had control, but it was very feeble and painful. When he grimaced, she requested kindly for him not to overwork himself.

“How long have I been like this?” Baekhyun asked nervously and was afraid to hear the answer.

She thought for a moment, “I’m not quite sure. A couple of months. It’s been a while since the two of you arrived and you haven’t moved an inch since we laid you here. Really, your pulse was so faint the first night, the only reason we hadn’t discussed finding a burial for you was because Sehun insisted he could feel your heart beat.”

Baekhyun lifted his hand slowly and then pressed it against his chest. He didn’t know for sure if Sehun had really felt it beating or if he had just felt it in his own heart, with hope.

As Sehun’s grandmother started to speak again, Baekhyun looked at her weakly. “We thought he was mourning, quite terribly. The thought of burning or burying you was tough for him. We thought he just couldn’t come to terms with knowing he had lost you after the fall from that cliff, and It was horrible seeing him come here and just sit and watch you. The whole island has been pressuring him to let you go in peace, but he’s been refusing everyone, maintaining a belief about you still being alive. Even our healer had tried to tell Sehun that your condition was too bad for you to actually pull through it.” She smiled again, holding it softly, “Never mind all that though, I’m just glad we were all wrong.”

The rain outside got heavier. A storm of thunder and lightning was forming over the land. Baekhyun felt overwhelmed with emotion as he listened to her. Sehun had held onto him, he hadn’t let anyone separate them, even if he hadn’t known, hadn’t _really_ known that Baekhyun would be okay.

Baekhyun tried not to swell up thinking about it, but he felt a lot of feelings returning and they were much stronger than how they were before, after being so afraid, after having ran through the bitter cold.

“I want to see him,” Baekhyun told her, exhaling a shaky breath, “Please, I want to see, Sehun.”

She tapped the bed lightly again, lingering with her hand there, “In time, you will. It’s much too dark right now to think of that, and there’s a bad storm coming. Sehun’s probably sleeping, he still needs his rest too, Baekhyun. We shall wait until the morning.”

Baekhyun shook his head and started to move. Every motion ached and stung. But he couldn’t wait. He had to see Sehun and let him know he was here. Awake. “I need to see him. I know he wants to see me.”

Sehun’s grandmother watched Baekhyun with deep concern, and as he got out of bed from the other side, she knew he was much too weak to walk. Baekhyun fell to his knees the minute he tried to stand on his own, and she rushed over to where he was and helped him get back in bed. “Please rest, Baekhyun. I’ll go get him for you If I must. Just stay here.”

She gave the covers a tuck around his legs before she went heading for the door, drifting out into the rain. While she was gone, Baekhyun thought about what he would say once he saw Sehun. There were so many unanswered questions he had. So many things he wanted to know. And he wanted some relief. He wanted Sehun to tell him they were far from the King and his land. He wanted to know if they were going to be alright.

Baekhyun had a lot to say to Sehun, but all of it began to wash away the longer he had to wait. Time began to pass and Sehun’s grandmother still hadn’t returned. More time passed. Then more, and Baekhyun knew she must have left him to rest on his own. Baekhyun thought about just waiting until the morning, but there was a need to be with Sehun, and it felt urgent and desperate, he couldn’t wait, so he decided to try again to get out of bed.

Baekhyun dragged back the covers and moved gradually to sit at the side of the mattress, even little movements was difficult and painful for him. And the cold rain outside, it was going to make the search harsh. But Baekhyun believed he was capable of doing it. He had fought through snow and hail before, so finding Sehun through some drizzle wouldn't be hard.

He stood up slowly and stayed still. Then all the pressure rushed to his legs as he attempted a first step. Immediately, he felt light and woozy, and within seconds he was falling forward. Once Baekhyun hit the ground, he knew going any further was out of his hands. His body had taken too much damage and was not ready.

Baekhyun was still on the ground and struggling to get up when Sehun rushed into the room. He saw an empty bed first, and his grandmother came in behind him, gasping when she noticed Baekhyun on the floor.

Sehun hurried over to him and took him in his arms, not lifting, but holding him there. “Why did you try to get out of bed on your own?” He sounded slightly winded, like he'd ran the whole way.

Face pressed to Sehun’s chest, Baekhyun spoke to his heart, “I was going to go find you. To let you know I'm alright.”

Sehun’s grandmother stayed quiet by the door and watched her grandson. She didn't want to interfere.

“I Already knew that, Baekhyun. I knew you’d be alright, it just takes time to recover.”

Baekhyun moved his hands around to Sehun’s back, going under his shirt to press to skin, and as he moved them along, up toward his shoulders, he felt wounds, scaly marks. He drew back slowly and looked at Sehun in his eyes, “You’re badly hurt.”

“It was from the fall,” Sehun quietly answered him, “We didn’t hit any of the rocks, but the water had been so cold that it burned. I was still holding onto you after we hit, but I felt your body get heavy almost instantly. I was nearly unconscious myself from the drop, but I knew if it wasn’t going to be you saving us, then it had to be me.”

“Your grandmother, she said I saved you?”

“In a way, yes. I didn’t give in to the pain because I didn’t want to let go of your hand.”

Baekhyun swallowed and stopped himself from breaking down as he pictured what he was being told. It had been pure dark that night they escaped. Yet what had seemed impossible, Sehun had managed to conquer alone. “But how.. how did we get here?”

“After we landed in the water, I didn’t try to swim to land. I held on, let the current take us for a while. I kept you close to me, and it kept me a little warm, but then our lower halves started to become stiff from the low temperature. The water ended up carrying us toward an area where I thought would be reachable, but at the time, I didn’t know if it was the King’s land or not. I just knew we had to get out the water fast, so I waved around and pushed us over, and when I got to the land, I laid you down for a few seconds. I did notice then that you were still breathing, but you were all blue. A little puffy.”

Baekhyun didn’t want to hear anymore. Not while he could visualize Sehun staring down at him, contemplating if he should leave him or not. Baekhyun knew it must have been a thought, of his, being unsure if they would both survive.

“..Why didn’t you leave me there?” Baekhyun asked, because Sehun’s own injuries must have made walking more difficult.

“What?” Sehun gazed at him in confused silence, and he was lost for words for a brief moment, “How could you ever ask me that?”

“Because… you couldn't have known if I’d be alright or not.”

“I did know. I didn’t for one second think you wouldn’t be. Of course it was hard. Of course I wished I didn’t have to carry someone through the dark and snow, but I _did_ , and I did it because I wanted to, and I knew we’d be okay.”

Baekhyun nodded and felt bad for thinking otherwise, “How did we end up in this place? Isn’t this…is this the land you came from?”

Sehun smiled feeble, “Well, the land I had managed to get us to turned out not to be the king’s land. I had no idea where to go next, but I kept going and shortly found a village. They let us stay a couple days, but then some of the villagers asked me if you were alive because they hadn’t seen you move, so I told them no, and that you were sleeping. After a few more days passed I asked for help getting home, and they brought us here by boat. While we were traveling the sea, I just wished you could have seen it. I thought you would have loved to see the sea like that.”

Baekhyun sadly smiled, arms still holding onto Sehun, “I’m sure it was great.”

“We’ll have time to see it again. Anyway, once we arrived here, the island gathered enough currency to pay the seafarers for our trip. My grandparents took one look at you and was convinced as those villagers were. Everyone kept telling me to let you rest in peace, but I…” Sehun’s eyes searched Baekhyun’s. It was astounding for them, how far they had come. How deeply they had fallen for each other once they had allowed themselves to give in to their feelings. “...I believed it would take time but eventually be okay. He’s strong, is what I told them, he’s been through it all…I just thought, a little fall couldn’t hurt you.”

Baekhyun felt the wetness in his eyes as he laughed, “A little fall,” he chuckled out, “You’re so…”

Sehun smiled and leaned forward to kiss him on his lips. Baekhyun forgot they weren’t alone and kissed him back, turning his head slightly after a few seconds and deepened it. After a few minutes of not pulling apart and only making the kisses longer and slower, Sehun’s grandmother coughed in her hand to remind them they had a third person in the room.

Sehun withdrew gently, achingly slow, and then he helped Baekhyun get back up to the bed. Baekhyun pulled back the covers and looked over, “Can we rest here together?”

Sehun nodded and then looked over at his grandmother, “Will you bring me some dry clothes? I’m going to stay the night with Baekhyun tonight.”

She looked hesitant about leaving them alone to sleep together but then sighed and turned to leave the room. She returned a while later and walked in on Baekhyun and Sehun chatting quietly. After giving Sehun dry clothes, she left them be. Sehun changed and then got in bed with Baekhyun. They had forever to lay there. There was no rush. No worries.

Baekhyun pulled Sehun close and kept him near for the rest of the night. They listened to the storm dancing outside, but it couldn’t get in. Couldn’t touch them. The storm, instead, allowed them to sleep peaceful.

 

 

 

They didn’t wake up together. Baekhyun found himself alone the next day, and as he sat up, he smelled something sweet and looked over at the table. There was a small meal there that looked recently cooked with a little smoke still rising off the top. Baekhyun curiously peered as he lifted his himself up some more. There was also tea and milk and flowers.

After a few minutes Sehun came in the room, and the sun was out, Baekhyun noticed it as the door opened behind him. Sehun didn't close it, he put a rock at the door to keep it from shutting then stepped aside as some light poured in at his feet.

The snow had been partially melted away, there were damp spots on the ground, puddles, and littles white clumps hanging around. Baekhyun smiled as he noticed Sehun had brought another bowel of rice and was walking over to the table to put it down.

“Have you tried moving your legs some more?” Sehun asked as he faced the bed.

Baekhyun turned his gaze to the tent of his feet. He extended one foot out and then retracted it. It was still painful to do, but there was a slight sign of improvement.

“I can try walking again?” Baekhyun suggested, then paused as he looked at Sehun for agreement.

Sehun moved over to him and pulled back the covers, “I’ll help you get to the table, but I’d like it if you stay in bed and keep resting.”

“I don’t want to stay in bed,” Baekhyun muttered. Gradually, he turned and sat sideways. “I’ve been in bed for the past few months, I just want to get up and go see everything.”

“I know, but you’re not better yet.”

“What If I never get better?”

“You will.” Sehun gently took his hand and walked him at slug pace toward the table. Not even for a minute did he move on his own, even as Sehun sat him down, Sehun kept holding his hand, only letting go once Baekhyun was securely seated.

“Don’t treat me like I’m frail and old,” Baekhyun huffed, and as he reached for a cup, he tried hiding his pain as his muscles were stretched.

Sehun wasn't fooled, he could tell right away that Baekhyun was being difficult. He reached over and grabbed the cup for him then asked if he wanted milk or tea.

Baekhyun sighed, giving in, and asked for milk. Sehun went on to do everything for him. Picked up his food and fed it to him. Held the cup when Baekhyun was thirsty and wiped his mouth. Baekhyun appreciated everything that he was doing, but it was too much at once for him. He didn’t feel entirely comfortable with it.

Before he could finish his meal, Baekhyun held up his hand and motioned for Sehun to stop. Sehun just stared at him, wondering if he had done something wrong.

“I thank you for all this, Sehun, but I want to try and eat on my own. I won’t get better if you’re doing everything for me.”

“Don’t rush yourself, Baekhyun. I’m alright with helping you, so don't be this stubborn.”

Baekhyun reached for his cup again anyway and frowned as a sharp pain ached in his mouth. 

Sehun sat back with a laugh, but decided to let him be. “Okay then, do you want to go see some of the island? I think my grandparents can find some kind of support for you since you think you’re up for it.”

“I do think so, just for a little while, and then I swear to not bother anymore about getting out of bed.”

Sehun smiled, “It’s not the asking that bothers me, I just don’t want you to think your body is ready and end up hurting yourself. You were ill for two months, remember?”

Before saying okay, Baekhyun thought about how Sehun must have felt coming into the room every morning and every night. To see he hadn’t moved or opened his eyes. It was oddly comforting knowing Sehun had so much hope. There was no possible way to thank him enough, there wasn’t enough time in a lifespan to repay this debt. Though Baekhyun knew, in his heart, he would have done the same.

He turned and faced Sehun in his chair, though his back ached, he still leaned in and brought up his hands to cradle Sehun's face.

It startled Sehun at first, the feeling of cold fingers touching him, but Baekhyun was gazing at him, affectionately, sweetly, humming and then rubbing with a growing smile. Sehun tilted forward and pressed his lips to Baekhyun’s forehead. It left warmth behind after he parted.

Right afterwards, Baekhyun lifted himself up a little and did the same.

Then after they took a few long minutes to themselves, Sehun got up and left. He returned some time later with two canes to be used as crutches for Baekhyun, and then helped him change into the pair of pants and a shirt he had brought with him from home.

With the canes in both hands, Baekhyun slowly moved with Sehun to the door. When they stepped outside, the sun was beaming even brighter, beautifully. It was an after-rain glow.

Sehun and Baekhyun squinted a little and then looked at each other with smiles. As they walked forward, Sehun started talking right away, telling him more about his people. They walked without having to rush to see things, it was closer to having a stroll, and Sehun pointed things out and explained little stories behind certain areas.

The other islanders were surprised and happy to see that Sehun’s companion had finally recovered enough to come outside, and whenever Baekhyun passed by someone, they all ran up to him and asked him if he needed anything to make his stay more comfortable.

Baekhyun told everyone he was alright, feeling a little awkward about the unfamiliar kindness, but Sehun took up a few requests, asking a few of them if they could lend or make Baekhyun clothes and shoes and extra linens.

The island was a lot different than the town Baekhyun had explored. It was made up of mostly working people, everyone doing something and helping each other. There were large trees with fruits. There were groves of frozen flowers, and dozens of tall torches, enough to keep the entire island lit up at night.

They eventually came to where Sehun’s grandparents resided and entered together. His grandfather wasn’t there, he was gone somewhere working on the land, but his grandmother was peeling hairs off a strange looking fruit. She took one look at Baekhyun and gasped before fussing at Sehun for having him outside without proper clothing to keep him warm, then she told them to go back until she could find or make Baekhyun something to fit him.

Sehun and Baekhyun complied, but they didn't go straight back. Sehun was enjoying telling Baekhyun stories. And Baekhyun was enjoying the sight of him walking, flowing, speaking. They stayed out for so long that the blue became an orange sky.

Then while the sun was setting and the land was growing darker, the stories came to an end, and eventually Sehun stopped talking completely. 

Once they finally returned, Baekhyun sat down on the bed after Sehun helped him set aside the canes. Sehun had started to act strange to him, he didn't seem cheery anymore.

“You look upset,” Baekhyun noted, “Aren’t you…happy to be here?”

Sehun sat down next to him. “I am," He answered calmly, “Can I ask you one thing?”

Baekhyun smiled faintly, partly puzzled about what Sehun could be thinking, “Ask me anything.”

“When I slipped and fell, why did you jump after me? What made you…do that?”

Baekhyun fell quiet. Blinking back at him several times instead of responding. It hadn’t occurred to him yet that Sehun didn’t know the answer. The answer was obvious, to him, just like how obvious Sehun had thought his own answer to be when it came time to finding them safety.

Baekhyun blinked around as he tried finding the right words,  “..I did it because, well because I-“

But his voice fell short. How could he manage to put everything he was feeling into words. How could he tell Sehun so easily that he had been willing to die with him. That he’d never live without him. How does he say, he begged the King to let him live because he was scared of what life would be without him again. _How_ , Baekhyun thought, could he fit his emotions into any of it. Yes, he could feel it in his heart, _everything_ , but Sehun couldn’t look inside him and see it.

There was no way Sehun could know what he was trying to say, or how he truly felt about him because he had yet to say anything remotely proper about his feelings. Not with the right words.

Baekhyun looked down, then up again, and held his gaze for a long time before he finally spoke, “I jumped because-I..I well, I had to go after you. I need you, Sehun. To hate. To love. Death could never keep me from you.” It was the best he could do. The best he knew how to do.

Sehun’s eyes softened. It was unlike Baekhyun, to say any of this, especially at this moment. This soon. And so Sehun responded lightly by drawing in until his lips were an inch apart.

“There’s nothing in this world then, to be afraid of. Not even death itself can separate us.” But It wasn’t the end. The next thing they shared was a kiss. And they would share more whenever they felt the urge to do it.

They would share a bed. A home. A love. And together, a life.

 

 

* * *

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If there’s any confusion about this, the reason why some of them stopped appearing in the fic, like Luhan for example, it was because they didn't survive a fight. I think I implied it when Sehun spoke about Luhan in past tense but IDK, :,( 
> 
>  
> 
> Anyways!! Sooo sorry for being late posting this! Thanks everyone for reading and enjoying! even if I didn't *meet expectations. This is the end : ( unless I write a one shot squeal but IDK. ok bye!!!


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